Credit: UNICEF
The General Assembly has today passed a resolution [1] proposed by the Government of Singapore on Sanitation for All and the establishment of November 19th as World Toilet Day. [2]
The amusement and laughter likely to follow the designation of 19 November as “World Toilet Day” would all be worthwhile if people’s attention was drawn to the fact that 2.5 billion people lacked proper sanitation and 1.1 billion were forced to defecate in the open, the General Assembly heard today. [3]
In a statement issued immediately following the Assembly’s action, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said that the new annual observance would “go a long way toward raising awareness about the need for all human beings to have access to sanitation”. [4]
The resolution builds on the Call to Action on Sanitation launched by Mr. Eliasson in March 2013 and to the General Assembly’s “Sustainable sanitation: the drive to 2015”, agreed in 2010.
Over 100 UN delegations are said to be co-sponsoring the “Sanitation for all” resolution — including Bangladesh, Viet Nam, Jamaica and the United Kingdom [5].
Jack Sim, the Father of World Toilet Day. Credit: World Toilet Organization.
For updates follow @team_toilet and the hashtags #Toilets4All and #WorldToiletDay on Twitter.
World Toilet Day started off in 2001 as an initiative of the World Toilet Organization (WTO), founded by Jack Sim.
The UN General Assembly has requested UN-Water to facilitate the implementation of World Toilet Day in the context of Sanitation for All [1].
Source:
[1] Sanitation for All. UN General Assembly A/67/L.75, 17 July 2013. Full text
[2] Therese Dooley, UNICEF, E-mail, 24 July 2013
[3] UN General Assembly GA/11397, 24 July 2013
[4] UN News, 24 July 2013
[5] UN adopts S’pore’s resolution on sanitation, ChannelNews Asia, 24 July 2013
Sanitation Updates 
Dear All,
It is GREAT to endorse such a Resoultion. Now, let us implement this in a prioritised manner— ” Sanitation For All”.
I hope, there is a need to prioritise WASH Sector also. So there should be a DAY for WASH as like as Toilet Day. Let us propose — “WASH for ALL :: All for WASH”.
Thanking you all.
Regards.
Nripendra Kumar Sarma
Guwahati, Assam, India
To the SACOSAN V Participants,
This issue may perhaps be discussed at length, in the next SACOSAN V and then to finalise the specific agenda for “World Toilet Day”.
Thanking All.
Best Regards.
Nripendra Kumar Sarma
Guwahati, Assam, India