A/HRC/45/10 support. For instance, in Finland, where water and sanitation services are not eligible for State aid, the State makes resources available to competent authorities at the regional level, funding innovative projects involving experiments and new technologies. 18 23. Taking a broader view of the notion of resources, States are also required to increase the availability of non-financial resources, such as institutional, technical and workforce resources. These resources become even more important when we look at residents of informal settlements and rural areas who rely on informal providers or self-supply as they do not have access to formal services and do not benefit from public financing and crosssubsidization. Given the range of services that exist outside the formal system, States must pay particular attention to maximizing non-financial resources, for example through capacity-building, to support informal providers, as an interim measure. 24. Resources refer to both existing and potential resources available within a State and those available from the international community through international cooperation and assistance.19 This means that, where domestic resources are insufficient, it is incumbent on States to seek help from outside sources. States that are in a position to assist may be regarded as bound to do so as part of their own duty to utilize the maximum of their available resources to progressively realize rights. 20 What is “maximum allocation”? C. 25. In addition to the obligation to make efforts to maximize resources, the maximum of available resources refers to the obligation to efficiently and effectively allocate the potential resources available. The first step of maximizing the amount of the budget allocated, which is at the planning stage, is differentiated from the subsequent step of spending and using those resources. Concerning what constitutes the maximum allocation, some have suggested that States should aim to spend at least 1 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on water and sanitation services provision, maintenance and improvement, while others have suggested 0.5 per cent of GDP for sanitation alone. 21 Owing to the disparities in the spending powers of States and the reality that the necessary level of budgetary allocation for water and sanitation will depend on context, the human rights framework does not prescribe the precise proportion of the total domestic budget, nor does it give an indicative amount. 26. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that States should move away from fetishizing numbers in budget allocations and move towards comprehensively assessing all the elements pertaining to such allocations. Specifically, making effective allocations includes identifying those responsible for the provision of water and sanitation services and making sure that the resources are allocated on the basis of their needs. Non-financial resources too should be identified, as they are particularly crucial in unserved or underserved areas. Moreover, some households may invest an important proportion of their income on selfsupply and on carrying out their own maintenance and installations. 22 27. Also of relevance is States’ ability to allocate resources for the progressive realization of the human rights to water and sanitation so that it is not compromised by allocating disproportionate amounts of the budget to other areas. Where States allocate a large portion of their resources to defence, bank bailouts or subsidies to airline companies, for example, it will be incumbent upon them to justify why doing so is necessary and unavoidable and also to ensure that such spending does not compromise the enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation. 18 19 20 21 22 Submission from Finland. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 3, para. 13. See also the Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, para. 26. Ibid. United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2006: Beyond Scarcity – Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 9. Kerstin Danert and Guy Hutton, “Shining the spotlight on household investments for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): let us talk about HI and the three Ts”, Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, vol. 10, No. 1 (2020), pp. 1–4. 7