Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing: Realizing the Right to Safe Water and Sanitation

For those of you in Washington DC, please do join us (including yours truly) for a very interesting hearing on “Realizing the Right to Safe Water and Sanitation” on March 3. Details below, and please email me if you need additional background.
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) Hearing:

Realizing the Right to Safe Water and Sanitation

Thursday, March 3, 2011
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
2118 Rayburn HOB

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the right to safe water and sanitation. According to the World Health Organization, 884 million people in the world—roughly 1/8 of the global population—do not have access to safe water. Moreover, 2.6 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation, and 1.4 million children die every year as a result of water-borne diseases.

This hearing will explore the impact of recent UN resolutions declaring the right to safe drinking water and sanitation a universal human right. We will also examine the role of U.S. foreign policy with respect to water issues and prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goals; the implementation of the Water for the Poor Law; and global challenges facing vulnerable people around the world regarding access to safe water and sanitation.

To discuss these issues we welcome the following witnesses:***

Panel I:

Administration Witness (to be confirmed)

Panel II:

Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Human Rights Council Independent Expert on the Issue of Human Rights Obligations Related to Access to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

Panel III:

Rev. William Schulz, President and CEO, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Rev. John McCullough, Executive Director and CEO, Church World Service
Katherine Bliss, Director, Project on Global Water Policy, Global Health Policy Center, Center for Strategic and International Studies
John Oldfield, Managing Director, WASH Advocacy Initiative

***Witness list subject to change.

If you have any questions, please contact Ari Levin (Rep. McGovern) or Elizabeth Hoffman (Rep. Wolf) at 202-225-3599.

James P. McGovern Frank R. Wolf

Member of Congress Member of Congress

Co-Chair, TLHRC Co-Chair, TLHRC