Proclamation of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade.

35. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE SECOND COMMITTEE
18. Proclamation of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade

The General Assembly, Deeply concerned that a large part of the world's population does not have reasonable access to safe and ample water supplies and that an even larger part is without adequate sanitation facilities, Concerned also that the plight of that population will not improve significantly unless there is a major commitment and effort on the part of Governments and of the international community to bring about the necessary changes, Recalling that Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements called for Governments to adopt programmes to provide safe drinking water for all by 1990, if possible,[1] Recalling further that in the Mar del Plata Action Plan, the United Nations Water Conference called for the designation of the decade 1981-1990 as the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade,[2] Noting with satisfaction the growing efforts by Governments and by intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, in response to that Plan, to increase the flow of technical and financial co-operation to developing countries in water supply and sanitation, Recalling also its resolution 34/191 of 18 December 1979, by which it decided to hold a special one-day meeting to launch formally the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, Bearing in mind resolution 25, entitled "International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade" adopted on 30 July 1980 by the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace,[3]

1. Proclaims the period 1981-1990 as the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, during which Member States will assume a commitment to bring about a substantial improvement in the standards and levels of services in drinking water supply and sanitation by the year 1990;

2. Calls upon Governments which have not yet done so to develop the necessary policies and set the targets to this end, to take all appropriate steps for their implementation, to set sufficiently high priorities for the activities concerned and to mobilize adequate resources to achieve their targets for the Decade;

3. Urges Governments to strengthen, as appropriate, their institutional frameworks for carrying out these activities, to mobilize the necessary technical expertise at all levels and, in general, to heighten popular awareness and support through education and public participation programmes;

4. Calls upon Governments, organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned to continue and, if possible, to increase their technical and financial co-operation with developing countries in order to enable them to attain the targets they have set, and to continue also their efforts to coordinate their activities so as to maximize the impact of their assistance to developing countries;

5. Calls upon the regional commissions to review periodically, on the basis of national reports, the progress being made by the Governments of their respective regions in establishing national targets and carrying out programmes to attain those targets;

6. Decides to review at its fortieth session the progress made towards the attainment of the Decade's national and international goals, as outlined in the report of the Secretary-General concerning the present situation and prospects relative to the Decade,[4] and requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination, to prepare a comprehensive analysis of the situation on the basis of progress reports by Governments and by the international organizations concerned and to submit it to the General Assembly at that session through the Economic and Social Council.

55th plenary meeting
10 November 1980

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[1] See Report of Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, Vancouver, 31 May-11 June 1976 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.76.IV.7 and corrigendum), chap. II, recommendation C. 12. [2] See Report of the United Nations Water Conference, Mar del Plata, 14-25 March 1977 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.77.Il.A.12 and corrigendum), chap. I, para. 15. [3] See Report of the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, Copenhagen, 14-30 July 1980 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.80.IV.3 and corrigendum), chap. I, sect. B. [4] A/35/367.