A/HRC/30/39 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 24/18. Access to affordable water and sanitation services is crucial for the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation. Where water or sanitation services are available but not affordable, people will not be able to use sufficient amounts of water and adequately maintain latrines, or will turn to cheaper, unsafe sources or practices, or will compromise the realization of other human rights such as food, housing, health or education. However, the issue of affordability does not always receive the attention it deserves. As people will go to great lengths to pay for water to ensure their survival and health, there is often an assumption that people will obtain the water they need even without State support. Similarly, monitoring practices sometimes assume that people have access without considering whether they can actually afford services. The results of this neglect on people’s lives, well-being and human rights are devastating. 2. Ensuring affordability is complex and requires different interventions in different contexts. People’s capacity to pay for water and sanitation differs depending on their socioeconomic situation, as well as the method of service delivery. States must find ways of guaranteeing affordability, especially for the most disadvantaged individuals and communities, while also ensuring overall sustainability of services. 3. This report considers the affordability of water and sanitation at the household level. The State’s obligations to ensure affordable access to water and sanitation in institutions – such as schools, health centres and prisons – or at work and in public spaces is also essential, but is beyond the scope of this report. State obligations in institutional contexts are different and may require direct provision. In any case, affordability should never be a barrier for children, women and men to accessing water and sanitation when they are outside the home. 4. From the perspective of human rights, the starting point for State decision-making on public financing and policy for water and sanitation service provision is that water and sanitation must be affordable to all. This differs starkly from the purely economic perspective. The focus in the context of water and sanitation services tends to be on cost recovery, whether full or partial. Economic perspectives and human rights perspectives are not impossible to reconcile, but human rights require ensuring affordable service provision for all, regardless of ability to pay, and economic instruments must be (re-)designed to achieve this objective. 5. While the human rights framework does not prescribe the concrete measures for the realization of human rights, it does set important parameters. When comparing water and sanitation with the realization of other socio-economic rights, different models of financing become apparent. Some countries use public funding for health care systems, while systems in other countries rely on individual contributions. The realization of the human right to food usually relies on individual sourcing to a significant extent, while the human rights framework requires States to provide assistance to individuals who need it, and States may fix pricing for essential foodstuffs, to ensure that these remain affordable for all. For the realization of the right to education, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights specifically requires States to ensure that primary education is free to all and to progressively introduce free education for secondary and higher education, hence relying on public financing for education. The realization of the human rights to water and sanitation is most likely to rely on a mix of sources of financing. From an environmental perspective, charging for the use of water is one means of discouraging wasteful consumption. On the other hand, the public health dimension of water and sanitation suggests a significant role for public financing. Sanitation, in particular, not only affects the 3