Your Majesty, Your Imperial Highness, Let me at the outset salute you for championing the water and sanitation cause.
Mr. President, Ambassador Tan, Karen, Singapore is defying all taboos - and now making toilets a key word in the diplomatic discourse.
Dear Panellists, Excellencies, Colleagues, dear friends

It is an honour and pleasure for me to join you today.

This is just the third year in which we mark World Toilet Day. Yet, already, we have seen a tremendous shift in the way we view and talk about sanitation and toilets.

I would like to thank the Government and Mission of Singapore, for its long-standing commitment to this cause and for co-organizing today’s event together with UN-Water.

Poor sanitation conditions trap people in a vicious cycle of disease and poverty.  That is why, in 2013, on behalf of the Secretary-General, I launched a Call to Action on Sanitation.  Our aim was to mobilize efforts at all levels to improve sanitation, change social norms and, not least, eliminate open defecation by 2025.

Today’s event takes place at the end of a year that has been monumental for the United Nations.

The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development gives us a solid and compelling platform for action. The Agenda includes the establishment of SDG 6 to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,

The new Agenda makes clear that access to sanitation, hygiene and clean water is one of the most critical drivers of development.  Without such access, there can be no sustainable food, health or livelihoods, security – all basic building blocks for development.

Acknowledging this interrelationship is one of the successes of the new agenda. 

Lack of access to clean drinking water and decent sanitation, for example, is a major underlying cause of malnutrition, which in turn is the cause of 45% of all child deaths.  Additionally, around 160 million children worldwide are stunted because of starvation or malnutrition in early years.

The impact of unsafe water and lacking sanitation is profound and long-term, affecting an individual’s capacity to reach his or her lifetime potential.  Those who have their physical and cognitive development affected by stunting often have a life of poor performance at school, endemic poverty, and unfulfilled dreams and aspirations. 

Measures which improve safe water access, sanitation and hygiene lead to positive nutrition and health outcomes. They also speed up progress towards meeting targets in other SDGs such as 2 and 3, food security and health respectively.

In Mali, for example, we have seen 53% fewer diarrhea-related deaths and 14% less stunting in children under 5 years old when community-based interventions brought about open defecation-free villages. 

Acting on these interrelationships is crucial if we are to “leave no-one behind”. We must forge partnerships that can meet the specific and differentiated needs of men, women and children in all walks of life.

Distinguished participants,

I welcome this year’s World Toilet Day focus on “Toilets and Nutrition”.  Evidence is strong that proper nutrition and water and sanitation, quality starting at pregnancy and through a child’s second birthday, is the physical foundation for a full life. We must make sure that all children have access to such conditions during their crucial first 1,000 days.  

The United Nations system is strongly committed to breaking down silos as we strive to help Member States achieve the new transformative agenda.  Working through UN-Water, we must continue to harness the individual and collective expertise that exists across UN agencies, not least UNICEF and WHO. 

I also recall the Sanitation and Water for All initiative and the cooperation with the World Bank and regional development banks.

Last but not least, I also want to thank UNSGAB (UN SG’s Advisory Board) and its chairs, currently Dr. Uschi Eid and formerly Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto, Former Prime Minister of Japan; His Royal Highness the former Prince of Orange, now His Majesty the King of the Netherlands; and His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal. We owe them and other Board members a great deal of gratitude for their very important contributions and work over the years for the water and sanitation cause.

Let us recall and be aware that we have the experiences, resources and knowledge for action.  When we mobilize these, we will be well on our way towards achieving the rest of the agenda, and with it, the future we want – a life of dignity for all.

Thank you.