LAC-Namibia
Fighting for Water, Sanitization Rights
Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) has announced plans to take legal action against the municipality of Otavi for the failure to provide adequate water and sanitisation facilities to the community.
During consultations throughout 2009, LAC staff witnessed community toilets in a deplorable state. Water in the toilets, built to service the more than 4,000 residents, has been turned off. Instead, people have used the entrance and surrounding area of the toilets to relieve themselves, leaving a pool of human waste surrounding the area.
Martha Lukas, a resident of Otavi’s informal settlement, says the sanitisation situation gets worse during the rain season. “The rubbish flows with the water in our yards,” Lukas says. “As a result we get diseases like diarrhoea, malaria and cholera.”
She adds that those affected are mostly elderly people and children.
Cornelia Ubu-gaes, a resident of the Bliekies Drop settlement for 14 years, reports that that the sanitization situation became unbearable about five years ago and the toilets regularly have maintenance problems.
She further stresses that, “Some water points were built close to the toilets, therefore contaminating the drinking water.”
Norman Tjombe, director of the LAC, says that all Namibians should have access to fair public services, the right to proper housing and the right to safe living conditions.
“This is really about fundamental freedoms – the right to dignity, the right to safety and security and the right to non-discrimination, based on socio-economic status,” Tjombe states.
LAC is among a growing number of organisations around the world who are urging the international community to recognize that access to better sanitisation is a fundamental human need and, therefore, a basic human right.
Of additional concern for the Otavi Informal Settlement residents are the six water points for the community.
Ubu-gaes points out that many people in Otavi’s informal settlement are impoverished and unable to afford the price of water. The water system has no provision for these residents that can’t afford water at all.
During an LAC collaborative documentation project with Stanford Law, researchers learned of children in Otavi’s informal settlement, as young as six or seven, who regularly must beg for water from other settlement residents. The children do not go to school but instead spend each day at the rubbish dump site looking for food.
In November 2007, the Ombudsman carried out an investigation on the health hazard conditions in and around the toilets at the informal settlement in Otavi. A report was then submitted to the Ministry of Regional, Local Government and Housing, the regional health directorate in Otjiwarongo and the Otavi village council.
In 2008, a reassessment was done by the team of the Ombudsman. The obligation of the village council was not fulfilled, the Ombudsman’s report stated.
The application will be finalised in December 2009 and filed in January 2010.
Fighting for Water, Sanitization Rights
Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) has announced plans to take legal action against the municipality of Otavi for the failure to provide adequate water and sanitisation facilities to the community.
During consultations throughout 2009, LAC staff witnessed community toilets in a deplorable state. Water in the toilets, built to service the more than 4,000 residents, has been turned off. Instead, people have used the entrance and surrounding area of the toilets to relieve themselves, leaving a pool of human waste surrounding the area.
Martha Lukas, a resident of Otavi’s informal settlement, says the sanitisation situation gets worse during the rain season. “The rubbish flows with the water in our yards,” Lukas says. “As a result we get diseases like diarrhoea, malaria and cholera.”
She adds that those affected are mostly elderly people and children.
Cornelia Ubu-gaes, a resident of the Bliekies Drop settlement for 14 years, reports that that the sanitization situation became unbearable about five years ago and the toilets regularly have maintenance problems.
She further stresses that, “Some water points were built close to the toilets, therefore contaminating the drinking water.”
Norman Tjombe, director of the LAC, says that all Namibians should have access to fair public services, the right to proper housing and the right to safe living conditions.
“This is really about fundamental freedoms – the right to dignity, the right to safety and security and the right to non-discrimination, based on socio-economic status,” Tjombe states.
LAC is among a growing number of organisations around the world who are urging the international community to recognize that access to better sanitisation is a fundamental human need and, therefore, a basic human right.
Of additional concern for the Otavi Informal Settlement residents are the six water points for the community.
Ubu-gaes points out that many people in Otavi’s informal settlement are impoverished and unable to afford the price of water. The water system has no provision for these residents that can’t afford water at all.
During an LAC collaborative documentation project with Stanford Law, researchers learned of children in Otavi’s informal settlement, as young as six or seven, who regularly must beg for water from other settlement residents. The children do not go to school but instead spend each day at the rubbish dump site looking for food.
In November 2007, the Ombudsman carried out an investigation on the health hazard conditions in and around the toilets at the informal settlement in Otavi. A report was then submitted to the Ministry of Regional, Local Government and Housing, the regional health directorate in Otjiwarongo and the Otavi village council.
In 2008, a reassessment was done by the team of the Ombudsman. The obligation of the village council was not fulfilled, the Ombudsman’s report stated.
The application will be finalised in December 2009 and filed in January 2010.