A/HRC/6/3 page 26 human rights framework. The increasing references to safe drinking water in human rights instruments as a component of other human rights similarly highlights the growing importance of this issue to the international community, as does the inclusion of access to safe drinking water and sanitation amongst the Millennium Development Goals. Importantly, an increasing number of States are recognizing safe drinking water as a human right in their constitutions, as well as national legislation, while national courts are enforcing it as a justiciable right. 66. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights believes that it is now time to consider access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right, defined as the right to equal and non-discriminatory access to a sufficient amount of safe drinking water for personal and domestic uses - drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation and personal and household hygiene - to sustain life and health. States should prioritize these personal and domestic uses over other water uses and should take steps to ensure that this sufficient amount is of good quality, affordable for all and can be collected within a reasonable distance from a person’s home. 67. The High Commissioner notes that there is a need for further elaboration of certain aspects of human rights obligations attached to access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Existing human rights instruments have provided the basis for expert human rights bodies to elaborate on States’ obligations, but the study has highlighted the fact that detailed practical advice is required on the following issues: the normative content of human rights obligations in relation to access to sanitation; the human rights obligations attached to the elaboration of a national strategy on water and sanitation; the regulation of the private sector in the context of private provision of safe drinking water and sanitation; criteria to protect the right to safe drinking water and sanitation in case of disconnection; and the specific obligations of local authorities. 68. Debate is still needed on a number of questions, including the following: whether access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a self-standing right or is derived from other human rights; prioritization among various water uses; interaction with other areas of international law, including trade and investment law. 69. Although various mechanisms at the international, regional and national level monitor certain aspects and dimensions of human rights obligations in relation to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, this issue is currently being neglected. While United Nations special procedures and treaty bodies have contributed to clarifying human rights obligations in relation to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, their work also highlights the difficult task of covering these issues in a comprehensive and continuous way. Specific, dedicated and sustained attention to safe drinking water and sanitation is currently lacking at the international level, given the broad range of issues that special procedures and treaty bodies have to address within their mandate and the specific questions that arise in relation to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.