COVID-19 and the right to water: The crucial role of business during and after the pandemic

By GBI Manager Riana Cermak 

One of the most important measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is ‘frequent and proper hand hygiene’, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). To further minimise the spread of the virus, water is not just necessary for washing hands, but also required for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, and for making alcohol-based hand sanitisers.

The WHO advice to businesses in their response to the pandemic includes to ‘make sure that staff, contractors and customers have access to places where they can wash their hands with soap and water’, ‘put sanitising hand rub dispensers in prominent places’ and to wipe surfaces with disinfectant regularly as ‘contamination on surfaces touched by employees and customers is one of the main ways that COVID-19 spreads’.

However, this is not possible for everyone – 2 out of 5 people around the world lack basic handwashing facilities and over half of the world’s population lack access to safe sanitary facilities. Many of these people are the most vulnerable in our communities, with a significant disparity in access to water between urban and rural populations. People living in informal settlements, homeless persons, migrants, refugees, and the elderly are all at increased risk.

While limited access to water has a significant impact on the lives of many every day, the COVID-19 global health crisis has emphasised the scale of this problem and the urgent need to mitigate human rights impacts stemming from limited access to water. For example, a recent report by the WHO and UNICEF found that water, sanitation, hygiene, health care waste management and cleaning services in health care facilities are sub-standard globally, with an estimated 896 million people using health care facilities with no water service.

What role do responsible businesses play?
 

Responsible businesses need to be proactive in their engagement with the right to water during their response to the pandemic to mitigate human rights risks.

In 2010, the UN General Assembly recognised the right to water as a universal human right, with the right to sanitation being recognised as a distinct human right in 2015. This is reinforced in Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to achieve universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) by 2030. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the significant human rights risks stemming from a lack of access to WASH – including by highlighting the links between the right to water and other human rights, such as the right to health and the right to life.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights articulate the corporate responsibility to respect all human rights. The right to water comprises five key components: (1) availability; (2) quality; (3) acceptability; (4) accessibility; and (5) affordability. Business activities can impact these in several ways – from limiting availability through excessive water use without effective water management or stewardship programmes, to impacting the quality or acceptability through ineffective waste management or pollution of water sources.

Immediate action is necessary from the business community to minimise impacts stemming from a lack of access to WASH and COVID-19 globally, but it will also be important to continue these measures in the future. Here are some suggestions for responsible businesses to ensure respect for the right to water during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

Immediate steps
 

• Ensure access for all employees, contractors, and customers to WASH in all offices, factories and sites to support the WHO guidelines on the prevention of the spread of COVID-19.
   
• Identify and assess impacts on the right to water during the pandemic as part of crisis responses and identify the most vulnerable groups during this time, including workers in the informal sector where living and working conditions are likely to increase human rights risks.
   
• Use leverage in your value chain to encourage improvement of access to WASH in supply chains and customer relationships.
   
• Provide remedy where appropriate, including where business activities have impacted the right to water in communities or supply chains. This could include through impacts identified in company grievance mechanisms and steps could be to work with local governments and civil society to provide effective remedy.
   
• Show leadership and raise awareness through a public statement on the importance of the right to water generally and in mitigating impacts from COVID-19.
   

Important ongoing measures
 

• Make a strong policy commitment to respect the human right to water and include it in internal human rights policy statements and external communications.
   
• Develop and implement water stewardship programmes using a human rights lens to focus on risks to people, not just to business. Think about the long-term and how actions taken now could impact future water sources. In this context, consider the links between climate change and access to water and the way your business is positioned in relation to the two issues.
   
• Undertake risk mapping of potential human rights impacts in your value chain on the right to water. Consider where your greatest risks to human rights are – for example, are they in waste management, use of water or availability of water for workers?
   
• Incorporate the right to water into existing human rights due diligence processes.
   
• Engage with stakeholders, including vulnerable populations in communities in which you operate on how to manage the right to water.
   
• Report on progress made by including a section in human rights reports on how you are managing impacts on the right to water.
   
• Consult existing resources on water stewardship, such as the UNGC Water Stewardship Toolbox, the WASH at the workplace Pledge, and the WWF Water Risk Filter.
   
• Undertake collective action – work with other companies, such as through the UNGC CEO Water Mandate, and with civil society, including through initiatives such as the WWF’s Corporate Water Stewardship Programme, to collaborate to mitigate human rights impacts.
   

This is an ongoing challenge which has been highlighted and exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic. In responding to COVID-19 and ensuring respect for the right to water, businesses should also take this opportunity to develop a sustainable, human rights approach that continues beyond the current crisis.
 

Access more on COVID-19 and responsible business practice here:

• COVID-19 and business and human rights: adopting a responsible business response
• COVID-19: The mental health considerations for responsible business
• COVID-19 and stigma: a responsible business approach
• COVID-19 and contract non-performance: wise companies are guided by business and human rights thinking
• Pandemic shows the need to integrate human rights specialists in crisis management teams