Even after the publication of Law

BackgroundThis article addresses the enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation (HRTWS), in particular access to toilets, in a public school in Bahia, Brazil.MethodsParticipant observation of the school’s routine, focus groups with students in grades 8 and 9 of primary school (13 to 17 years old) and individual, semi-structured, interviews with members of school staff were applied, exploring access to water and sanitation by adolescent girls and boys.ResultsStudents and school staff reported that the amount of toilets was insufficient and that their conditions were often inadequate because they were plugged or dirty. The impact on girls is greater as toilets do not offer a clean and healthy environment for menstrual hygiene management. Several elements of the normative content of the HRTWS, especially accessibility, acceptability, quality, safety and dignity, were largely not fulfilled. The study identified that, to comply with the HRTWS, it is necessary to go beyond infrastructure, as the lack of maintenance; cultural elements and student participation hinder the usage of sanitary facilities. Since schools can be privileged spaces to train critical and reflective citizens and to foster autonomy and emancipation, education oriented by human rights and citizenship is an opportunity for a more equitable society. By increasing access to social, economic and cultural rights in all phases and aspects of life, including when children and adolescents are in a school environment, people are able to enjoy better living conditions and a higher standard of health.ConclusionsThe study raised the importance of considering each community’s sociocultural aspects in analyzing access to sanitary facilities in schools, which are spaces where citizens’ rights should be exercised and fulfilled.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-6469-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Abstract

Background In 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drawn up. The content of this document was further reflected two treaties, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. To try to maintain the interrelationship between the rights contained in each document, the idea that all rights are interdependent and indivisible was stressed. Based on this vision, this study aimed to explore the extent to which the violation of the human rights to water and sanitation interferes with the guarantee of other rights, addressing the principles of interdependence and indivisibility. Methods For that, 24 homeless, in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, were interviewed. Individual and group interviews were carried out in addition to participant observation. The content analysis was used in order to analyze the data collected. Results The research found that violation of the rights to water and sanitation promotes violation of other rights, such as health and education rights, strengthening the view of rights’ interdependence and indivisibility. Conclusion It is important to affirm that the protection of human rights must be consolidated at an operational and normative level, aligned to concepts of indivisibility and interdependence as it has been proposed for approximately seven decades. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12914-019-0197-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.