Zofeen Ebrahim
SEOUL, Nov 23 2007 (IPS) – It was a happy day for Sim Jae-Duck. The World Toilet Association (WTA) history has begun, said the president of the newly formed association at the close, Friday, of the four-day assembly in which it was formally established.
The need for such an association, delegates agreed, cannot be overemphasised with 2.6 billion people, 40 percent of the world s population, lacking access to proper sanitation and two million deaths caused annually by water-borne diseases.
If there was any cause for complaint it was the fact that females were scarce at the deliberations over an issue of concern to women.
Not only were there very few women among the delegates and participants, but also there was not a single presentation devoted to illustrating the plight of millions of women, especially in South Asia and Africa where sanitation facilities are abysmal or non-existent. In many places, in these regions, women are forced to wait till dark or wake up before sunrise to relieve themselves. If events such as these are hijacked by men, the world will never know how women suffer in silence, observed one woman delegate.
There was passing mention of how the lack of toilets for girls in schools leads to increased drop-out rates by Vanessa Tobin, a sanitation specialist from U.N. Children s Fund (UNICEF), in her presentation.
The gender imbalance is reflected in the WTA s board. Of the 14 members only four are women, but the association was ready to acknowledge the problem and ready to remedy it. We always emphasise human dignity and women s issues are included in our objectives, but we did not address it specifically, conceded a person closely associated with the WTA, requesting anonymity.
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It s a compelling issue and we do realise that more women suffer from lack of toilets, she said, adding that there was a definite need for better participation by women on the decision-making seats of the WTA.
For the rest the launch of the WTA was deemed a success. It coincides with the United Nations declaration of 2008 as the Year of Sanitation, thereby adding to the new recognition being given to the importance of toilets in health, sanitation and water conservation.
While the WTA has finally taken shape, it was the culmination of a journey that began two decades ago for Sim in South Korea. We could not have foreseen that this movement would take on the form of a revolution, said Haril Dag, former diplomat and now chairman of the Turkey Toilet Association. He attributed the success to the untiring efforts and unshakeable determination of Sim s campaign that started from Suwon city, outside Seoul.
The work begins now, said Samuel Koo, chairman of the WTA. It is a wonderful base to build collaborations with the governments, national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and U.N. agencies. The WTA has the full support of the Korean government which has pledged for the initiative 3.3 million US dollars to be spent over the next 3-5 years with 30 percent of the money earmarked for building quality toilets that serve as a cultural space in developing countries.
WTA officials recalled that it was in collaboration with organisations such as World Health Organisation and the U.N. bodies that the Korean government and the Korea Toilet Association identified the necessity to create an international organisation to specifically address toilet issues. In August, 2005, both entities decided to establish the WTA, agreeing to build upon the toilet reforms that occurred during Korea s preparations to host the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
By July, 2006, the organising committee for the WTA was established and early this year in May, representatives from 11 countries (Australia, Brazil, China, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, Tunisia, and Turkey) participated in a brainstorming session that resulted in the first draft of the WTA constitution. Six countries China, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia and Tunisia served as the Working Group (WG) for the general assembly which met in October and fine-tuned the constitution and the proposal to formally launch the association.
WTA now hopes to organise an assembly every alternate year and already the Chinese delegation has made a compelling case of being allowed to play host in 2009.
Toilets are important and deserve explicit focus, reiterated association president Sim Jae-Duck, adding that the issue must be put into the national sanitation policies of governments.
Resolutions summed up in the final ten-page document, the Seoul Declaration was adopted unanimously by 150 national toilet association representatives.
Ministerial-level government officials responsible for health and sanitation, international organisations, businesses, civic groups and academic institutions gathered from 60 countries pledged to take up the issue globally by leading a widespread and open dialogue about toilets through seminars, conferences, workshops and regular assembly sessions.
They promised to make available technical and financial aid to build and develop toilet facilities for regions and countries lacking proper sanitary facilities because of economic or cultural factors.
The WTA vowed to undertake research on toilet-related technologies and to come up with models tailored to the different cultures and needs of regions if necessary. We will develop and set international standards in toilet areas such as architectural and interior design, ambience, construction materials, and sanitary-ware to upgrade the cost-efficiency, quality and production of toilet-related items, stated the declaration.
Priority wis to be given to developing and providing water-efficient toilet systems, eco-friendly sewage systems that save water and prevent its water contamination, solve the shortage of drinking water and protect the ecosystem.
