A/HRC/12/24 page 14 40. The International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention concerning Hygiene in Commerce and Offices provides in article 13 that “sufficient and suitable washing facilities and sanitary conveniences shall be provided and properly maintained”.49 The ILO Recommendation concerning Hygiene in Commerce and Offices provides further detailed guidance on sanitation in the workplace,50 and the ILO Recommendation concerning the Protection of the Health of Workers in Places of Employment specifically refers to sanitation, explaining that “measures should be taken by the employer to ensure that the general conditions prevailing in places of employment are such as to provide adequate protection of the health of the workers concerned [including] sufficient and suitable sanitary conveniences and washing facilities … provided in suitable places and properly maintained”.51 G. The right to life 41. Considering the potentially fatal impact of poor sanitation on people’s health, some assert that it is integrally linked to the right to life. In its general comment No. 6 (1982) on the right to life, the Human Rights Committee stated that the right to life should not be interpreted in a restrictive manner. In this context, it said that “the Committee considers that it would be desirable for States parties to take all possible measures to reduce infant mortality and to increase life expectancy, especially in adopting measures to eliminate malnutrition and epidemics”.52 42. At the regional level, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has interpreted the meaning of article 4 (the right to life) and article 5 (the right to humane treatment) of the American Convention on Human Rights53 to encompass the right to harbour a project of life, addressing essential elements of, inter alia, the rights to education, food, adequate housing, health and sanitation.54 The Indian judicial system has taken a similarly broad approach to interpreting the right to life, and has made specific links with sanitation in this regard.55 49 ILO Convention No. 120 (1966). 50 ILO Recommendation No. 120 (1964), para. 38. 51 ILO Recommendation No. 97 (1953), para. 2 (e). 52 CCPR/C/21/Rev.1, para. 5. 53 OAS Treaty Series No. 36, 1144 UNTS 123 (entered into force on 18 July 1978). 54 See e.g. Yakye Axa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, judgement of 17 June 2005, Series C No. 125. 55 “Maintenance of health, preservation of the sanitation and environment falls within the purview of article 21 [concerning the right to life] of the Constitution as it adversely affects the life of the citizen and it amounts to slow poisoning and reducing the life of the citizen.” Rajasthan High Court, L.K. Koolwal v. State of Rajasthan and Others, writ petition No. 121 of 1986, 19 September 1986, AIR 1988 Raj 2.