UN expert: Orang Asli, refugees don’t have access to drinking water, sanitation

Special Rapporteur on human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation Leo Heller says the government should carry out a baseline survey to improve water supply and sanitation to ensure no one is left behind.

KUALA LUMPUR: A United Nations Human Rights Council expert says Malaysians’ rights to adequate water and sanitation services is impressive.

Leo Heller, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, who is on an official visit here, however regretted that certain groups had been left behind.

Revealing his preliminary findings on safe drinking water and sanitation at a press conference today, he said they included the Orang Asli and blamed this on inappropriate technology.

He said several water treatment facilities installed by the government near such communities used sophisticated technology that required proper maintenance and operations.

This went beyond the capacity of the villagers who didn’t have adequate training, Heller said.

“As a result, what I saw was a series of non-functioning facilities, leaving residents to find water sources on their own.

“The Orang Asli then have to rely on water collected directly from streams, or transported in bottles, supplied by gravity-fed water systems with low sustainability.”

He urged the government to allocate more resources to upgrade and maintain the water infrastructure at Orang Asli villages .

Heller said other groups deprived of proper water or sanitation facilities included refugees and asylum seekers. “They also can’t afford to pay water bills.”

He said most refugees also rent homes where multiple families or extended family members stay together. This leads to disproportionate availability of toilet and washing facilities.

‘Inhumane conditions’

Heller said he was told refugees and asylum seekers were often held in detention centres and prisons in almost inhumane conditions with poor access to water and toilets.

He also said Sabahans and Sarawakians were also lagging behind as only 88% of the people had access to piped water in 2016.

“In Peninsular Malaysia, in most states except for Kelantan, the rural areas enjoy near-universal access to water supply.”

Heller said disparities are even higher among the undocumented population in states like Sabah and Sarawak.

Heller said transgender people in Malaysia had encountered discrimination of some form when using public toilets, with them being forced to use toilets based on their sex assigned at birth.

He said there was a lack of information or data-keeping by the government regarding the right to water and sanitation by asylum-seekers and refugees.

He urged the government to take efforts to ensure no one is left behind.

On another matter, Heller said Malaysia must improve the record of ratifying international human rights treaties.

He expressed his disappointment over the recent announcement made by the government to not ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

“However, I welcome the intention of the government to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The covenant is monitored by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which clarifies the human right to sufficient, safe and affordable water for personal and domestic use.” -FMT