A/HRC/42/47 guidelines have been established to limit the tariffs levied by small independent providers and water kiosks, on which many people rely to satisfy their water needs in public spaces, those standards are not applied to informal vendors who cannot therefore be held accountable for breaches. 13 Furthermore, the State authorities, while bearing the primary duty for human rights breaches arising from the actions of independent water vendors, are not held accountable for their non-compliance. 28. In his previous report on the concept of accountability within the context of the human rights to water and sanitation, the Special Rapporteur highlighted the essential importance of ensuring accountability if States are to progressively realize those rights (A/73/162). In achieving that objective, it is understood that the concept of accountability contains a number of distinct, yet interrelated dimensions that must each be achieved in the context of enabling access to water and sanitation in public spaces. 29. The first dimension requires that all actors partaking in the provision of water and sanitation services in public spaces have clearly defined roles, responsibilities and performance standards. That is crucial in the light of the commonly found fragmentation of responsibility for water and sanitation in public spaces. Although responsibility for the provision of water and sanitation facilities in public spaces was traditionally held by States, particularly local authorities,14 in recent years the delegation of all or part of this role to private providers or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has increased.15 Furthermore, it is now common for different aspects of the operation and maintenance of public water and sanitation facilities (i.e. construction, cleaning, restocking) to be a responsibility shared between different agencies, which may often undermine the clear accountability of the services.16 In India, for example, the World Bank has identified private leasing as being one of the common forms of public toilet operation, where toilets are constructed using municipal funds but then operated by the private sector or NGOs, which charge a fee. 17 30. Where the authorities have complete control of water and sanitation facilities in public spaces to private and non-governmental entities, the ability to determine who has responsibility for their operation can be hampered by the veil of corporate responsibility, as well as potential corporate events, such as takeovers, liquidation and the appointment of administrators. In Nairobi, city officials gave complete control of the city’s public toilets to the Nairobi Central Business District Association. However, following the collapse of the association, the issue of who then owned and controlled the toilets became marred by confusion, with the Chair of the organization suggesting that a former Chair might have sold them to other private entities, but noting that no documentation had been provided to that effect.18 13 14 15 16 17 18 8 See Sohel Ahmed and others, “Cooking up a storm: community-led mapping and advocacy with food vendors in Nairobi’s informal settlements”, International Institute for Environment and Development working paper (June 2015). See Maureen Flanagan, “Private needs, public space: public toilets provision in the Anglo-Atlantic patriarchal city: London, Dublin, Toronto and Chicago”, Urban History, vol. 41, No. 2 (May 2014). See Transparent Chennai, “Public sanitation management models: providing toilets for the urban poor in Chennai”, (November 2012); Sjaak van der Geest and Nelson Obirih-Opareh, “Getting out of the shit: toilets and the daily failure of governance in Ghana”, Bulletin de l’APAD, (2002); and F. Khan and others, “Promoting entrepreneurship and affordable financing for uptake of improved toilets in Nigeria”, 41st Water Engineering and Development Centre international conference, Nakuru, Kenya (July 2018). See Adriana Allen, Pascale Hofmann and Hannah Griffiths, “Moving down the ladder: governance and sanitation that works for the urban poor” in Sanitation Services for the Urban Poor: Partnerships and Governance, J. Verhagen and others, eds. (The Hague, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, 2010). See F. Khan, N. Dosumu and S. Otusanya, “The role of entrepreneurs in provision and sustainable operations of sanitation facilities in public places in Nigeria”. See Lee Mwiti, “Cashing in on public toilets: what Kenya can learn from Tanzania” Standard Digital (2nd February 2016). The idea of privatizing public toilets has also been discussed by the Borders Local Authority in Scotland, see www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/news/council-in-talks-overprivatising-borders-public-toilets-1-4832185 and www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland46234883.