A/HRC/15/31 contract duration.10 For instance, while the model of concessions confers the management, risk and responsibility for investment on the private sector, private sector participation can also be limited to contracting out some aspects of management or service provision. In many cases, the system cannot be designated as exclusively public or private but instead takes on a hybrid nature, also in the form of joint ventures. The oft-used term “privatization” obscures the fact that full-scale privatization, that is, divestiture including the transfer of assets, is a rare exception rather than the norm.11 To avoid imprecision and confusion, the independent expert will not use the term, but will rather mention private sector participation when referring specifically to the private sector. 10. State-owned companies also play an increasingly significant role in service provision, both in their home States as well as abroad.12 Such companies are fully or predominantly owned by the State, are often incorporated under private law and often operate on a commercial basis. While they are owned by the State, they are distinct legal entities from the State as such. Therefore, they are considered here as non-State actors to which service provision is delegated (often through a legislative act or a contract), and many of the same issues as in the context of private sector participation arise. B. Informal provision 11. Compared to the formal private sector, many more people are served by informal small-scale providers. It has been estimated that up to 25 per cent of the urban population in Latin America and almost 50 per cent of the urban population in Africa rely on small-scale providers to some extent.13 Apart from unprotected sources, such as rivers, poor households rely on a variety of private water vendors such as water truck, standpipe and kiosk operators and small-scale water delivery services, which often – although not always – operate on an informal basis. When other sources are unsafe, people also often depend on bottled water in particular for drinking purposes. Even more so than in the water sector, small-scale local entrepreneurs are of enormous significance in the provision of sanitation services. Sanitation for low-income households is often provided on site and multiple actors are involved, with activities ranging from constructing, maintaining and emptying latrines and septic tanks to managing public facilities and selling related products such as cleaners and soap. 12. Finally, NGOs and community-based organizations are also taking on an increasingly important role in service provision, stepping in where the State is not involved in such activities. While their motivation may be different, as they often operate on a notfor-profit basis, many of the same issues arise in that context, for instance how to apply consistent standards for the quality of services and how to ensure that organizations are accountable to the people they serve. 13. To a large extent, the debate has focused on the relative advantages and disadvantages of formal public or private provision, too often losing sight of this de facto 10 11 12 13 6 On the different models of private sector participation, see OECD, Private Sector Participation, pp. 17-18. A few areas of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as some cities in Chile are the only places where this model has been chosen. See Gunatilake and Carangal-San Jose, “Privatization revisited”, p. 8. Marin, Public-Private Partnerships, pp. 10-11. Mukami Kariuki and Jordan Schwartz, “Small-scale private service providers of water supply and electricity: a review of incidence, structure, pricing and operating characteristics”, Policy Research Working Paper, No. 3727 (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 2005), p. 6.