{"id":30989,"date":"2017-08-29T22:06:38","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T22:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=30989"},"modified":"2018-04-22T11:50:53","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T15:50:53","slug":"childrens-access-to-safe-water-and-sanitation-is-a-right-not-a-privilege-unicef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2017\/08\/childrens-access-to-safe-water-and-sanitation-is-a-right-not-a-privilege-unicef\/","title":{"rendered":"Children’s access to safe water and sanitation is a right, not a privilege \u2013 UNICEF"},"content":{"rendered":"

In countries beset by violence, displacement, conflict and instability, children’s most basic means of survival \u2013 water \u2013 must be a priority, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF<\/a>) said today, warning that children living in fragile situations are four times more likely to lack access to drinking water.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren’s access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right, not a privilege\u201d\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF’s global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene, who warned, as\u00a0World Water Week<\/a>\u00a0gets underway, that more than 180 million people in crisis-torn countries have no access to drinking water.<\/p>\n

UNICEF said that in Yemen, a country reeling from the impact of over two years of conflict, water supply networks that serve the country’s largest cities are at imminent risk of collapse due to war-inflicted damage and disrepair. Around 15 million people in the country have been cut off from regular access to water and sanitation.<\/p>\n

As for Syria, where the conflict is well into its seventh year, around 15 million people are in need of safe water, including an estimated 6.4 million children. Water has frequently been used as a weapon of war: In 2016 alone, there were at least 30 deliberate water cuts \u2013 including in Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Raqqa and Dara, with pumps destroyed and water sources contaminated.<\/p>\n

In conflict-affected areas in northeast Nigeria, 75 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, leaving 3.6 million people without even basic water services. The UN agency adds that in South Sudan, where fighting has raged for over three years, almost half the water points across the country have been damaged or completely destroyed.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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