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International Developments

UN Report on Stigmatization in the Realization of the Rights to Water and Sanitation

In September 2012, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation Catarina de Albuquerque issued a report on “stigmatization in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation.”This report focuses on how the various manifestations of stigma dehumanize and even justify the unequal treatment of individuals or groups in certain countries and communities, as these labels mark them as “inferior” or “abnormal.”

This idea of ”stigma” is an important link to ”nondiscrimination,” which is a key concept in the human rights framework and over-riding principle in the implementation of states’ treaty obligations. The report emphasizes how stigma goes beyond discrimination, however, and reflects and perpetuates unequal power relations in society, excluding certain groups from decision making processes and access to vital resources and services.

Stigma can manifest in different ways, but “the drivers of stigma lie in the individual, social, cultural and institutional spheres, according to Ms. De Albequerque “Often, prejudices and stereotypes are combined with irrational fears of ‘contagion,’ ‘impurity’ or ‘otherness.’” This phenomenon can be found in the public sphere, as well as within families.   It can be harboredinternally as personal shame, or, in some cases, as institutional frameworks that formalize and legitimize the stigma. Stigmas can render certain people and their needs as invisible, push people to the margins of society, create a threat to privacy and security, and even criminalize certain groups.

The Special Rapporteur’s report directly relates stigmatization to the right to water and sanitation, which is a component to of habitat rights. However, stigmatization is an important concept that can be extended to issues associated with the realization of many human rights. Conceptualizing the concept of “stigma” is crucial to better understating rights violations, as often socio-cultural reasons underlie discrimination against certain groups.

The concept of “stigma” in relation to the realization of human rights is not new. HIC has monitored housing and land violations due to HIV status, issues of class or caste, and race or ethnic origin, among other bases. However, this report is an important step in analyzing the effect of societal stigmas on the realization to rights, and how this prevention also can worsen or reinforce inferior status.

This new report further emphasizes the important of opening further the discussion of stigma, because these issues are so entrenched in societies, and discussing the “stigma” also fosters a discussion of the root causes of discrimination in certain societies and communities. According to Ms. de Albuquerque, “to start speaking openly about what seems unmentionable can act as an eye opener, precisely because stigma is instrumental in propagating silence and imposing a culture of invisibility and shame, allowing human rights violations to continue unabated and with impunity.”


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