A/HRC/42/47/Add.6 activities in pursuance of the objectives of the Protocol on Water and Health. He continues to encourage Tajikistan to sign and ratify the two Protocols. He further regards as a positive step the Government’s decision to sign the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He urges the Government to also ratify this Convention so as to ensure its legally binding status, however he reminds the Government that by signing the Convention it is under a duty to refrain from acts which would defeat its object or purpose, pending a decision on ratification.4 RECOMMENDATION 1 – PROGRESS ON-GOING: The Special Rapporteur looks forward to Tajikistan making further progress in its efforts to ratify the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR and urges it to complete ratification as soon as is possible. RECOMMENDATION 2 – PROGRESS ON-GOING: The Special Rapporteur acknowledges that the Government has engaged in several activities related to the Protocol on Water and Health but reiterates that only by ratifying the Protocol can the protections it affords be fully realisable as a matter of law. He therefore restates his recommendation that the Government should accelerate its preparations to sign and ratify the Protocol. B. Recommendation on legal framework RECOMMENDATION 3: “Revise the Water Code and place the principles and normative content of the human rights to water and sanitation at the centre of the law. The Water Code should have an explicit provision on the prioritization of water for personal and domestic use.” (A/HRC/33/49/Add.2, para. 59(a)) 17. At the time of his visit, the Special Rapporteur noted with concern that the Water Code of 2000, which represents one of the central pieces of national legislation regarding access to water and sanitation, did not provide sufficiently for personal and domestic use and did not seek to incorporate the human rights to water and sanitation into its provisions. The Government of Tajikistan was, at that time, conducting a review of the Water Code, which represented an opportunity to address this criticism and bring the Water Code into line with the State’s human rights obligations (A/HRC/33/49/Add.2, para. 9). 18. In relation to the inadequacy of the Water Code to account for the importance of water for personal and domestic uses, and its lack of reference to human rights, the Government refuted in its response to the questionnaire that this is the case, stating that Article 64(1) of the current version of the Water Code provides that every citizen of the Republic of Tajikistan has the right to access to safe and clean drinking water as an integral component of the realization of all human rights. 19. However, in response to the questionnaire sent by the Special Rapporteur, the Government of Tajikistan noted that a Working Group had been established for the analysis of the Water Code and the development of a new edition of the Code, within the framework of “Program for the reform of the water sector in Tajikistan for the period 2016 – 2025.” After a first round of comments from relevant ministries and departments, an updated version of the document is now under consideration by those bodies. The Government also informed the Special Rapporteur that a bill on drinking water supply had been developed for the new edition of the Water Code, and this is in the process of being reviewed and receiving a second round of comments from relevant ministries, departments and development partners. The Government clarified that this document specifically reflects the human rights to water use and sanitation. 20. The Special Rapporteur is pleased that the Government of Tajikistan is making concerted efforts to seek to revise the Water Code with the intention of ensuring a greater reflection of the human rights to water and sanitation therein. Based on these developments, he reiterates the previous recommendations for the Government to ensure that the revised Water Code and Drinking Water Supply Law is in line with the human rights to water and 4 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Article 18(a). 5