A/HRC/15/31 reforms advocating for States to reduce public spending and avoid significant investments.3 Some of the reforms leading to greater involvement of the private sector have been imposed through loan or aid conditionalities, debt reprogramming or loan forgiveness.4 7. Some highly visible instances of private sector participation have triggered a vigorous debate, criticism and high scrutiny over the formal private sector, focusing more on water than sanitation. On the one side, some argue that water is a public good and a unique resource essential for life and health and thus should remain in the public domain. Critics often point to instances where private sector participation is perceived to have failed, arguing that performance has been poor, agreed coverage targets have not been met, the quality of services has decreased, prices have increased substantially and that processes have not been transparent. Conversely, others argue that the private sector can contribute to the necessary investments in the sector, and thus extend coverage to currently unserved or underserved areas, as well as increase service quality and efficiency, contribute with technologies and skills and provide services at lower prices. 8. The intensity of the debate between advocates and critics, which is sometimes ideological and emotional, may have partially obscured the actual extent of private sector participation. While such participation is very common in some countries,5 on a global scale, other forms of service provision predominate. It has been estimated that, as of 2003, only 5 per cent of world’s population was being served by the formal private sector.6 Moreover, the debate sometimes conveys the impression that the private sector is largely dominated by transnational corporations. This does not reflect present reality. Some transnational corporations have started to withdraw from developing countries,7 they are increasingly developing local partnerships,8 and, in a number of countries, local private actors are also very active.9 Moreover, delegated service provision is not limited to the operation of networks; service provision can also be delegated to suppliers of nonnetworked services including standpipe operators, water kiosks, and operators of shared sanitation facilities. 9. Private sector participation is commonly used to refer to a broad spectrum of contractual arrangements between governments and the private sector that involve private companies in varying degrees in the provision of water and sanitation services. They differ according to the ownership of assets, the responsibility for capital investments, the allocation of risks, the responsibility for operations and maintenance, and the typical 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 investment (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/9); and more generally on the fragmentation of international law the report of the Study Group of the International Law Commission on “Fragmentation of international law: difficulties arising from the diversification and expansion of international law” (A/CN.4/L.682). See the report of the independent expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, (A/HRC/11/10), paras. 26-42. Karen Bakker, “Overview paper: recent trends in PSP, financing, and regulation in the water sector”, The Water Dialogues, April 2009, available from www.waterdialogues.org/thematic.htm, p. 2. For instance, in France and Malaysia it is estimated that 80 per cent and 64 per cent of the population, respectively, are served by the private sector. See Prasad, “Overview: social policies”, pp. 22 and 26. Herath Gunatilake and Mary Jane F. Carangal-San Jose, “Privatization revisited: lessons from private sector participation in water supply and sanitation in developing countries”, Economics and Research Department (ERD) Working Paper No. 115 (Asian Development Bank, 2008), pp. 15-16. Philippe Marin, Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities: A Review of Experiences in Developing Countries (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 2009), p. 34. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Private Sector Participation in Water Infrastructure (Paris, 2009), p. 17. Marin, Public-Private Partnerships, p. 29. 5