The Habitat Agenda, adopted by consensus of 171 States at the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, declares that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing, housing, water and sanitation. And the irony surrounding this issue is perhaps never more evident than it is in India. We have a mobile phone penetration rate of 74% but more than half the households don’t have basic sanitation and toilet facilities.
Besides being a professor of International and Environmental law, Philippe Cullet is the Convenor of the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC), a non-profit research organisation that seeks to establish frameworks that foster sustainable conservation and use of natural resources in an equitable international context. In a conversation with The Alternative, he sheds light on the sanitation situation in India