We must all stand up for the human rights of sanitation workers

1 min read
Muniraju, 37, hand's after manually emptying a pit, in Bangalore, India. August 2019.
Image: WaterAid/ CS Sharada Prasad/ Safai Karmachari Kavalu Samiti

Across the world, many sanitation workers face working conditions that threaten their health, safety and dignity every day, violating their human rights. Protecting sanitation workers' rights is not only a moral imperative, but also the only way to build up a workforce that can support sanitation services at the scale required to reach everyone, everywhere.

Sanitation and decent work are both human rights; one human right cannot come at the expense of another. In the drive to reach Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030, we cannot neglect SDG 8, which requires decent conditions for all workers – including sanitation workers.

On Human Rights Day, Andrés Hueso, Senior Policy Analyst for Sanitation, explains on Inter Press Service what governments – and all citizens – must do to end this injustice.