Bathroom Humor with a Serious Message

Louie the Loo

Nov. 19 is World Toilet Day (#worldtoiletday), calling attention to a huge global problem. To spread the message, Water Aid recruited Louie the Loo, who sings and answers interview questions.

A third of the world's population lacks sanitary and safe toilet facilities. (Worldwide, more people have cell phones than access to toilets!) The situation is worst in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. 

The effects include illness, lost productivity, and death (diarrhea is a leading cause of child mortality).  Women and girls are particularly vulnerable.


For more information, see the World Toilet Organization website.

For discussion of access to water and sanitation as a human right, see:

• Sharmila L. Murthy, The Human Right(s) to Water and Sanitation: History, Meaning, and the Controversy Over-Privatization, 31 Berkeley J. Int'l Law. 89 (2013)

•  David R. Boyd, No Taps, No Toilets: First Nations and the Constitutional Right to Water in Canada, 57 McGill L.J. 81 (2011)

• Takele Soboka Bulto, The Emergence of the Human Right to Water in International Human Rights Law: Invention or Discovery?, 12 Melbourne J. Int'l L. 1 (2011)


• Jernej Letnar Cernic, Corporate Obligations Under the Human Right to Water, 39 Denver J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 303 (2011)

World Toilet Day logo

Louie the Loo's song is cute, but we might turn to a different Louie for a slogan for the toilet issue:

"Oh no, me gotta go!" 

—Richard Berry, Louie Louie (popularized by The Kingsmen and considered by many to be Washington State's unofficial state song)

Graphics: Screen snip from Louie the Loo video. Logo from http://worldtoiletday.org.