UNIS/SGSM/1454
14 November 2024
Toilets are fundamental to promoting human health, spurring development, and helping all people, especially women and girls, live their lives in dignity.
But too many members of the human family live without this basic human right. At the current rate, 3 billion people will still live without safely managed sanitation by 2030.
This year’s World Toilet Day shines a light on the threats to sanitation posed by conflict, climate change, disasters and neglect.
I urge all governments to support the United Nations Strategy for Water and Sanitation, prioritize clean water and sanitation across budgets, and invest in climate-resilient infrastructure that can protect these systems in the face of extreme weather.
We must work to expand assistance to developing countries — through both financing and technology — to build and maintain these life-sustaining systems.
And all parties to conflict must stop targeting sanitation and water infrastructure.
Let’s spare no effort to meet our commitment to water and sanitation for all, and ensure that every person in the world can realize this fundamental right.
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"Working as one, we must push to repeal discriminatory laws, combat violence and harmful practices, and end the scapegoating of marginalized communities." — António Guterres
"From the telegraph to radio, from the Internet to Artificial Intelligence, technology has transformed how we live, work, and connect." — António Guterres
Barbados signed and deposited its instrument of ratification for the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (the “Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships”) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 8 May 2025.
Journalists are invited to cover the 34th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) to be held from 19 to 23 May in Vienna, Austria.
