A/HRC/45/10/Add.3 water and sanitation conditions in dormitories in schools (A/HRC/39/55/Add. 2, para. 47). Regarding menstrual needs, the minimum standard study conducted by the Government in 2015 found that girls during their menstruation cycle had a tendency not to attend school, as they did not want to use the unimproved toilets. Access to water and showers in dormitories and the provision of pads for girls of menstruation age were not yet prioritized at the time of the visit (A/HRC/39/55/Add. 2, para. 78). 36. According to the WHO/UNICEF JMP, 63 per cent of schools in Mongolia had access to basic sanitation services in 2016.14 This shows an increase from the numbers reported by the Government in 2015, which stated that around half of the schools in Mongolia had indoor toilets (A/HRC/39/55/Add.2, para. 76). Not all schools have equal access to sanitation services, however. 70.2 per cent of schools in urban areas have access to basic service, as opposed to 57.7 per cent in rural areas. This pattern is also true for access to water, 74.4 per cent of schools had access to basic services in 2016, with 84.8 per cent of urban schools and 72.9 per cent of schools in rural areas. 37. The persisting inequalities in access to water and sanitation between rural and urban schools are in part due to the specific technical and management requirements of services in rural areas. A related development is the Asian Development Bank’s guide for improving water, sanitation and hygiene in rural schools in Mongolia released in April 2020. That guide addresses the lack of attention to the specific financial and technical needs of schools in rural areas and notes the need to diversify the types of services provided in schools, in order to fit them to local contexts, and provides guidance on how to identify appropriate sanitation options based on local ground types, water availability and financial capacity.15 It includes measures to ensure the safe management of menstrual hygiene, including separate facilities, and bins and buckets of waters to dispose of sanitary napkins and/or tampons, as well as buckets of water to clean blood.16 The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government take note of this guidance, highlighting that services must be context-specific in order to best comply with the human rights to water and sanitation of targeted populations and to ensure their safe management (A/70/203). 38. The Special Rapporteur stresses the importance that the Government should place efforts to address the inequalities between access to water and sanitation in schools between rural and urban areas. He reminds the Government that the obligation of progressive realization, under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which Mongolia is a State party, calls for a clear identification of the requirements to achieve equal access to an adequate level of those water and sanitation services for all people without discrimination. Fulfilling that obligation requires the taking of deliberate, concrete and targeted steps to improve access to water and sanitation for all to the maximum extent of available resources, included but not limited to financial resources (A/HRC/45/10). PROGRESS NOT STARTED: The Special Rapporteur emphasizes the need for the Government to allocate financial and non-financial resources to specifically address inequalities in access to water and sanitation services between schools in rural and urban areas. In doing so, the Special Rapporteur suggests the Government adopt a contextspecific approach to service provision, and takes into account the needs of all by ensuring, inter alia, that menstrual hygiene in schools and dormitories is addressed, including the provision of supplies to enable girls to properly manage their menstruation. 14 15 16 12 UNICEF/WHO JMP, Drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in schools, Global Baseline Report 2018, 2018, 34. Asian Development Bank, Improving water, sanitation and hygiene in schools: a guide for practitioners and policy makers in Mongolia, April 2020, 98. Ibid., 102.