The United Nations (UN’s) World Toilet Day(WTD) is annually observed across the globe on 19 November to draw attention to the public health, environmental, and dignity challenges posed by inadequate sanitation. The day also highlights the need to provide safe and secure toilets for all.
- The day is dedicated to emphasizing the importance of safe and accessible toilet facilities as part of Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 6: Ensuring water and sanitation for all by 2030.
Note: ‘Safe toilets for all by 2030’ is one of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 6.
Theme:
i.The theme of WTD 2024 is “Toilets – A Place for Peace”.
- The 2024 theme underscores that billions of people face threats to sanitation due to conflict, climate change, natural disasters, and systemic neglect.
ii.The UN’s coordination mechanism on water and sanitation UN-Water also announced the theme of WTD. The WTD 2024 theme is ‘Sanitation for peace’.
iii.The Key messages of WTD 2024 are Toilets are a place for peace; Toilets are a place for protection and Toilets are a place for progress.
Symbol:
Hummingbird is the symbol of WTD. This associates Toilet which is small but mighty like a hummingbird.
Background:
i.In 2001, the World Toilet Organisation(WTO), a global non profit organisation which was established to improve toilet and sanitation conditions across the globe, declared 19th November as the World Toilet Day(WTD).
- The WTO was established by Jack Sim, a philanthropist from Singapore on 19th November 2001.
ii.On 24 July 2013, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), adopted the resolution (A/RES/67/291) and declared the 19th November of every year as “World Toilet Day”.
iii.The first ever UN recognised WTD was observed on 19th November 2013.
Points to note:
i.The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene are responsible for approximately 1,000 deaths of children under the age of 5 every day in 2023 and improved sanitation could save 1.4 million lives annually.
ii.Around 2.2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water, and 2 billion lack basic hygiene services, including 653 million with no facilities at all.
iii.Globally, around 3.5 billion people are still lacking access to safely managed sanitation. This includes 419 million people who are still practising open defecation.’
Observance in India:
i.The States and Union Territories (UTs) of India conducted ground-level surveys to identify existing gaps and expedite the construction of Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs).
ii.The day is a pivotal moment to reinforce efforts toward sustaining India’s Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.
iii.The Government of India(GoI) also launched the campaign “Hamara Shauchalay: Hamara Samman”, which will run from 19th November 2024 to 10th December 2024(Human Rights Day).
iv.This links sanitation with human rights and the universal need for dignity and privacy, especially for women and girls.
About Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
i.Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India on 2 October 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management and to create Open Defecation Free (ODF) villages.
ii.Nodal ministry: Ministry of Jal Shakti (previously known as the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation).
iii.The progress under SBM-Grameen(SBM-G) includes construction of over 11.73 crore household toilets, resulting in more than 5.57 lakh ODF Plus villages.
