A/HRC/45/10 I. Introduction 1. Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 42/5, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Léo Heller, was mandated to identify challenges and obstacles to the full realization of those rights, as well as protection gaps, good practices and enabling factors. During the six years of his mandate, from 2015 to 2020, the Special Rapporteur has prioritized translating existing legal principles and human rights norms into public policies and implementation mechanisms that contribute to the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation according to the vision he identified at the outset of his mandate.1 As a continuation of that effort, in this last report to the Human Rights Council, he examines the nature of the obligation of progressive realization in the context of the human rights to water and sanitation to inform public policies on the operationalization of that obligation. 2. The year 2020 marks 10 years since the General Assembly explicitly recognized water and sanitation as a human right and also signals the fact that there are 10 years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In this era of the Goals, it is even more critical to clarify and unpack the generality of the obligation of progressive realization of human rights. Both the Goals and the progressive realization obligation have been criticized for being aspirational goals, the former because of the significant margins of discretion given to each State to set their own national targets 2 and the latter because it is viewed as vague, having no defined time frame or pace of implementation and therefore not imposing a clear positive obligation on States. 3 However, both share the same idea of having to be implemented gradually, as a result of concerted and continuous efforts by States. The ambitious targets 6.1 and 6.2 of the Goals to achieve universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2030 need to be articulated in conjunction with the obligation to progressively realize human rights. 3. The obligation to progressively realize human rights has several constituent parts, each of which needs to be achieved if the obligation as a whole is to be satisfied. States must progressively realize human rights, using the maximum of available resources. Furthermore, while article 2 (1) of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requires that States take steps to achieve the rights enshrined in the Covenant progressively, some elements of those rights, including the minimum core obligations, must be guaranteed immediately. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur unpacks the constituent parts of the progressive realization of the human rights to water and sanitation, starting by defining the obligation of progressive realization (sect. II). Subsequently, he dissects the concepts of “maximum of available resources” and “minimum core obligations” (sects. III and IV). He then synthesizes the three concepts and provides an integrated analysis of their implementation (sect. V) and illustrates ways to monitor that implementation (sect. VI). 4. In preparation for the report, the Special Rapporteur held public consultations in October 2019 in New York and November 2019 in Geneva. In response to his call for input, 18 submissions were received.4 5. In conjunction with the present report, the Special Rapporteur presents a separate report in which he illustrates the progress made to realize the human rights to water and sanitation since the General Assembly recognized them as a human right in 2010. 5 1 2 3 4 5 2 A/HRC/30/39/Add.1, para. 4. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (General Assembly resolution 70/1, para. 55). Bruce Porter, “Rethinking progressive realization: how should it be implemented in Canada?” (4 June 2015). See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/Progressiverealization.aspx. A/HRC/45/11.