Meeting of the Parties
The Meeting of the Parties is the main governing body of the Protocol. It comprises all Parties to the Protocol. At its meetings, other States as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations participate as observers. The mandate of the Meeting of the Parties is to keep under continuous review the implementation of the Protocol, to adopt the new work plan, and take the necessary measures required to achieve the purposes of the Protocol.
The first Meeting of the Parties in 2007 set operational mechanisms and bodies, and established a work plan for 2007–2009. Parties and Signatories also reaffirmed in a formal joint Declaration their commitment to the Protocol’s goal of providing access to safe water and adequate sanitation to all. This made the Protocol a key instrument for ensuring access to safe water and for reaching the water-related Millennium Development Goals, particularly Goal 7 Target 10.
The second Meeting of the Parties took place in Bucharest, Romania, on 23–25 November 2010. Towards the attainment of the human right to water, participants endorsed proposals for strengthening work on equitable access to water and sanitation. They also agreed on cross-cutting work on small scale water supply systems to increase the access to safe water, an issue especially in rural areas of the European Region.
The third Meeting of the Parties took place in Oslo, Norway, on 25–27 November 2013. A special session on equitable access to drinking water and sanitation addressed progress made in the pan-European region in advancing universal access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
The fourth Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health took place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 14–16 November 2016. The meeting featured a special high-level session to reflect on the role of the Protocol as a tool to promote the achievement of the Agenda 2030 and facilitate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals at national level. The Meeting of the Parties also adopted a number of important decisions and an ambitious programme of work aimed at further addressing the main challenges related to water, sanitation and health in the pan-European region as well as starting work in two areas of strategic importance, namely institutional water, sanitation and hygiene as well as increasing resilience to climate change.
