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Thousands make a stand for sanitation and water

Campaigners in 80 countries joined the World's Longest Toilet Queue - the biggest global mobilisation for sanitation and water ever seen!

World Water Day 2010, and tens of thousands people took a stand in solidarity with the 2.6 billion people worldwide who are still waiting in line to use a safe and dignified toilet, a crisis that kills 4,000 children every day worldwide.

Children join the Queue in Kibera

It was a mass campaign event aiming to raise awareness of the crisis and put pressure on world leaders to ensure sanitation and water for all.

In London campaigners dressed up as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and queued outside Westminster demanding better UK policy to ensure water and sanitation in developing countries; in Cameroon, children queued to demand toilets at their schools, 20,000 campaigners took action in Nepal, while 1500 queued in Bhopal; in Berlin hundreds queued outside the Brandenburg Gate, while in Paris campaigners waited their turn in front of the Eiffel Tower. In Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa, thousands of people queued to demand clean and safe toilets in urban settlements. 

And the queues didn't stop there - in Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso, in every major city of Pakistan, in Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Madagascar, in Spain, Poland and in countless other locations people stood together to demand action.

“It’s exciting that so many people, in so many countries, got together to stand in solidarity with those lacking access to their most basic rights – a safe toilet and clean water,” said Steve Cockburn, Coordinator of End Water Poverty. “Together we can work to ensure that no child need die because of preventable illnesses like diarrhea, and no girl need miss school because they have to fetch water.”

Watch the video of some of the Queues around the world!

 Why World Water Day 2010? 

The event urged action from governments taking part in the first ever ‘High-Level Meeting on Sanitation and Water’ being held in Washington DC just one month later on April 23, to ensure they provided the money and leadership to tackle the sanitation and water crisis.

Outcomes from the High-Level Meeting

Hundreds queue in Warangal, India

The meeting was a success in that high-profile ministers from developing countries attended - showing a commitment to the issue and a desire to find solutions to the crisis. Less reassuring was representation from rich countries, and a lack of real detail in the funding proposed to support efforts in developing countries.

There was also real success in the way developing country governments have reinvigorated their efforts: read campaigner Inna Guenda's blog post about how Burkina Faso has committed to building 54,000 latrines every year to ensure sanitation for all.

The High-Level Meeting was a global first for water and sanitation - as a global community we need to make sure that we keep up the pressure on governments the world over to act without delay.

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Enjoy these brilliant photos from the World's Longest Toilet Queue around the globe.