A/HRC/42/47/Add.5 I. Background 1. Pursuant to resolutions 27/7 and 33/10 of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation undertakes official country visits to promote the progressive realization of the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation. 2. The Human Rights Council encourages all Governments to continue to respond to requests by the Special Rapporteur, to follow up effectively on the recommendations of the mandate holder and to make available information on measures taken in this regard (para. 15 of Resolution 33/10). Furthermore, the Manual of Operations of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council stipulates that Special Procedures mandate-holders can seek to enhance the effectiveness of their country visits in various ways, including by formulating their recommendations in ways that facilitate implementation and monitoring and undertaking follow-up initiatives through communications and further visits (paras. 97 to 105). In this connection, the Special Rapporteur seeks to enhance the effectiveness of his official country visits by undertaking a follow-up analysis of those visits, focusing on the implementation of recommendations presented in his country visit reports. 3. The Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation, Léo Heller, undertook an official visit to Botswana upon the invitation of the Government from 9 to 17 November 2015. During his mission, he had the opportunity to meet with different interlocutors, including the Government, the Attorney-General, the Water Utilities Corporation, the Ombudsman, local authorities, civil society organizations and international community. He talked to community leaders, human rights defenders, women, children and medical practitioners. Following the conclusion of the mission, the Special Rapporteur shared his preliminary findings with the Government. Additionally, he issued a press release and the end of mission statement, 1 and held a press conference on 17 November 2015. The final report was presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2016 (A/HRC/33/49/Add.3). The comments by Botswana (A/HRC/33/49/Add.6) were also submitted to the Human Rights Council. 4. In undertaking the present follow-up report regarding his mission to Botswana, the Special Rapporteur has, between 1 January and 1 November 2018, conducted desk research on the implementation of the recommendations provided to the Government in his country mission report, in order to create a picture of the Government’s current actions, inactions and progress. To support this research enterprise, a call for input was distributed to the Government and to other stakeholders. Whilst no response from other stakeholders was received, the Government of Botswana submitted a written response to the questionnaire on 12 July 2018. 5. In the current report, the main findings of the follow-up are presented, introducing the level of development of the recommendations and highlighting further recommendations derived from the current status. It is organized through relevant clusters of recommendations. The level of implementation of the recommendations are assessed in accordance with the following categories: 1) good progress, 2) progress on-going 3) limited progress, 4) progress not started, 5) unable to assess due to lack of information and 6) retrogression. 6. Prior to final submission, the current report was shared with the Government of Botswana on 22 July 2019 to which the Government did not provide any comments. II. General developments in the country 7. At the time of the visit, it was identified, through data from the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) relating to the progress of States towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, that, as of the end of 2015, 96 per cent of the national population had access to improved water, 63 per cent had access to improved sanitation, and 1 2 available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16763&LangID=E.