A/HRC/42/47 improved sanitation, which should include at least one staff toilet, one sex-separated toilet, with facilities for menstrual hygiene management, and one accessible toilet for use by persons with disabilities. The report equally specifies that compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals regarding hygiene means that hand-washing facilities with soap and water should be provided within five metres of toilets. 4 11. Workplaces have also been considered as spheres of life where water and sanitation should be provided to sufficient standards. Workspaces can be both formal, when they may be established and operated by one’s employer, or informal where people may use public spaces to conduct their economic activities. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has made clear that the right to just and favourable conditions of work includes ensuring that water and sanitation are available for all workers and, importantly, has acknowledged that these rights extend also to people working informally. 5 In addition, the International Labour Organization has published a number of conventions, recommendations and reports, in which it sets out the necessity of providing adequate water and sanitation facilities in workplaces in general and has equally addressed water and sanitation issues in relation to many open workspace industries. 12. The enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation has also been well recognized as applicable in prisons and detention facilities. For instance, rule 20.2 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules) stipulates that “drinking water shall be available to every prisoner whenever he or she needs it”. In his joint communication to Bahrain, the Special Rapporteur raised concerns regarding the prison authorities shutting off water, including drinking water, for up to 36 hours, leading to outbreaks of illness among prisoners. 6 Furthermore, during his visit to El Salvador he found prison toilets that were simply holes in the floor, which had to be used by 15 to 25 people and which afforded no privacy at all (A/HRC/33/49/Add.1, para. 86). B. Sustainable Development Goals and the spheres of life beyond the household 13. A number of the Sustainable Development Goals and related targets speak to the need to ensure that water and sanitation services are available in relevant spheres of life. For instance, targets 6.1 and 6.2 respectively require that by 2030 States should “achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all” and “achieve equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation”. By specifying that all people are entitled to benefit from actions to achieve those targets and by stating that access to water must be universal, Goal 6 clearly looks beyond merely addressing access to water and sanitation at the household level. Rather, it requires States to implement actions to improve access for everyone, wherever needed. As part of that commitment, the careful interpretation of other goals and targets, looking at water and sanitation as a cross-cutting issue, clarifies and affirms the commitment of providing access to water and sanitation in various spheres beyond the household. 14. In that regard, target 3.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals requires States to combat “water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases”, while in target 3.9 States are called upon to “substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from … water and soil pollution and contamination”. It can be easily recognized that for those targets to be met, it will not be sufficient to focus on the provision of services at the household level. Furthermore, target 4.a requires States to build educational facilities in a way that is “child, disability and gender sensitive” so as to provide a positive learning environment; the related 4 5 6 4 See WHO/UNICEF, “Water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities: status in low- and middle-income countries and way forward” (2015); and WHO/UNICEF, “WASH in Healthcare Facilities: Global Baseline Report 2019” See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 23 (2016) on the right to just and favourable conditions of work, paras. 30 and 47 (d). UA BHR 4/2018, available from https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=23996.