The right of children and adolescents to a healthy environment

   Everyone has a right to enjoy sufficient and safe water which is physically accessible, as well as sanitation services appropriate to achieve adequate quality of life and sustainable development.

This right also embodies access to a variety of other rights that directly or indirectly related to water and sanitation, such as the right to a healthy environment, health, and adequate nutrition.

  In this context, the right to a healthy environment for children and adolescents implies their access to quality basic services and a proper environment that protects health and encourages full development of their capacities. A healthy environment is an integrated concept that acknowledges homes, schools, and the communities as key settings where the greater part of childhood and adolescence takes place where knowledge and life skills are acquired. This article focuses on access to water and sanitation, in light of international commitments that points to quality access to such services as a central theme that binds environment to health—for instance, article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 10th goal of the Millennium Development Goals and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002).
Source:http://www.eclac.org/dds/noticias/desafios/4/30104/challenges_05_final.pdf