A/HRC/42/47 places a particular emphasis on public spaces, given the significant gaps found worldwide and the importance of highlighting those spaces in the efforts of States to progressively realize the rights to water and sanitation. 6. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur initially addresses access to water and sanitation services in spheres of life beyond the household (section II). He then outlines how the human rights to water and sanitation apply within public spaces (section III), before considering how States should ensure access to water and sanitation in public spaces in line with the normative content of the rights (section IV). In section V, he addresses the interlinkages of the rights to water and sanitation and other human rights in the context of public spaces and the report concludes with recommendations. II. Spheres of life beyond the household 7. Although the obligations of States to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights to water and sanitation extend to all persons without discrimination, national policy and practice regarding the progressive realization of those rights has had a tendency to be limited, wholly or mostly, to the implementation of projects aimed at improving access within formal households. However, the Human Rights Committee in its general comment No. 16 (1998) on the right to privacy extended the concept of “home” to a “place where a person resides or carries out his usual occupation”. Equally, in its resolution 72/178, the General Assembly recognized the human rights to water and sanitation and stated that “the human right to safe drinking water entitles everyone … to have access to … water and … the human right to sanitation entitles everyone … to have … access to sanitation … in all spheres of life”. 8. Different definitions can be adopted for spheres of life beyond the household, particularly when looking at relevant global gaps in access to water and sanitation. Those spheres may include spaces where people live that are different from conventional households (streets, prisons, dormitories, refugee camps); places where people work; places where people systematically spend significant time (public spaces, schools, places of worship); and places where people go occasionally and might spend significant time (stores, public transit hubs, health-care facilities, government offices, other public buildings, parks, mass gatherings, restaurants, public buildings). All those spheres of life require that attention be paid to the enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation, but they constitute a heterogeneous landscape, differing substantially in terms of needs and appropriate approaches. The following section illustrates this, highlighting some spheres of life requiring particular attention and concerns and initiatives related to them. A. Spheres of concern for the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 9. In educational establishments the need to be able to access water and sanitation has been well rehearsed. The World Health Organization/United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO/UNICEF) joint monitoring programme report on access to water and sanitation in schools has, for instance, provided guidance regarding how States should ensure access to water and sanitation, emphasizing that drinking water should be available and should come from an improved source, while sanitation facilities must be single-sex, functional, private, improved and available.3 Access to water and sanitation in schools has also been addressed by the Special Rapporteur, for example during his visit to El Salvador, where he drew attention to the lack of availability of water in rural schools, with responsibility for the provision of water placed on the directors of the school, rather than on the Government (A/HRC/33/49/Add.1, paras. 46–47). 10. The WHO/UNICEF report on health-care facilities also outlines the need for hospitals and clinics to provide access to improved water on the premises, as well as 3 See UNICEF/WHO “Drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools: global baseline report 2018”. 3