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Angkor Declaration on Sanitation, Hygiene and Ecosystem Health
The delegates from 13 countries representing
the WTA from ASEAN, Asia, Australia, Africa, North America participating in the
3rd WTA General Assembly and International Conference on Sanitation
practices for human wellbeing, environmental health and public toilet held in
Siem Reap, Cambodia from May 30th to June 2nd, 2016:
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Endorse our commitment to the Human Right to
Sanitation adopted by the United Nations for ensuring accessible, affordable,
appropriate, acceptable and environmentally safe sanitation and hygiene
services that all people can use and maintain with dignity, safety and comfort;
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Recognize
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) succeeding the previous Millenium Development
Goals (MDGs) and the alignment of the WTA statements and activities with the
SDG target 6.2;
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Understand
open defecation, poor hygiene standards and inadequate waste treatment are
linked with major risks to human health from preventable water and
sanitation-related diarrheal diseases and the loss of essential ecosystem
health services;
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Recognize that sanitation in public places, and resilience of sanitation
facilities to climate change need greater attention. Future
toilets must be eco-friendly in order to preserve the environment;
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Reaffirm
WTAs guiding principles and mission statement ¡°provide sanitation facilities globally to those in need,
thus increasing health and wellbeing for all mankind through socially
acceptable and economical facility development and infrastructure and educating
local, regional, and national governments and other constituencies on
sanitation and health¡±;
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Reaffirm WTAs past
commitments & statements formed
in the 1st General Assembly held in South Korea in
2007;
The WTA members unanimously resolve and
commit to:
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The
achievement of the SDG target 6.2: by 2030, achieve access to
adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation,
paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in
vulnerable situations;
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Promote
cross learning and sharing of best practices, experiences, innovations, and
research & development between and within countries/regions by various
mechanisms such as leadership and youth forums, General Assembly (GA) meetings
and other dissemination & learning platforms;
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Enhance
WTA membership to other constituencies i.e. governments, civil society organizations,
academia, business/private sector within the member countries for enhanced collaboration
and partnerships;
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Effective
engagement with the tourism sector to promote sustainable and functional
sanitation and hand washing facilities with adequate soap in all tourist sites
and host communities;
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Promote
the promulgation of standards and regulatory frameworks that defines design,
maintenance and servicing standards, including monitoring of system
performance.
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Promote sector collaboration and adoption of inter-sectoral
approach amongst the various line ministries and departments addressing
sanitation and water issues, especially engaging with the health sector at all levels in sanitation and hygiene
promotion as critical agents of preventive healthcare;
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Establish
capacity building initiates and adequate budgetary allocations to maintain the
sanitation facilities to post construction operation and cleanliness standards;
- Prioritize the poorest and most marginalized,
bridging the gaps in access to and use of appropriate sanitation and
hygiene services for children, adolescents, women, differently-abled
people, or those excluded due to age, caste, ethnicity, religion or
gender, living in hard to reach areas or affected by disasters. Prioritise
menstrual hygiene management for women and girls;
- Encourage people
driven approaches and achievement of open defecation-free households and
communities, equitable and sustainable delivery of services including
solid and liquid waste management and hygiene behaviour change;
- Call on external financing agencies and
member states to increase their support to WTA mandate through financial
and technical assistance;
- WTA Secretariat to be strengthened by enhancing human
resource and skill development responding to the needs of the WTA members
across the world;
We express our
profound appreciation to the Kingdom of Cambodia for their excellent hosting of
this event and for their generosity and hospitality.
Siem Reap, Cambodia, June 1st, 2016
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