A/HRC/40/24 financial institutions were allowed to remain on SWIFT to conduct limited transactions involving food and medicine. 59 On 18 May, the European Commission launched the formal process to activate the blocking statute 60 prohibiting European Union citizens from complying with the extraterritorial sanctions of the United States and allowing European companies to recover damages associated with these sanctions. 61 The European Union has also stated it will develop a special purpose vehicle to facilitate exports of mainly essential items to the Islamic Republic of Iran by enabling financial transactions. 62 C. Right to an adequate standard of living and right to health 28. According to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party, the right to health includes a right to access timely and appropriate health care and underlying determinants of health such as safe and potable water, nutritious food, housing and a healthy environment. 63 As noted in its comments, the Government has consistently included agriculture and food security, water, environment and health in its successive national plans and programmes of economic, social and cultural development. Notwithstanding resource limitations, in particular in the context of economic challenges, it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of the rights of Iranians to access to an adequate standard of living, health and water. 64 Right to water and adequate sanitation 29. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights obliges States parties to ensure sustainable access to clean water for domestic, personal and agricultural uses.65 Many observers have expressed concern about issues related to access to water. A recent World Bank report assessed that 94 per cent of the population was exposed to water stress due to inefficiencies and overuse. 66 The World Resources Institute has ranked the Islamic Republic of Iran as one of 33 countries at extremely high risk of water stress by 2040.67 The current head of the Department of Environment has warned of the severity of the water crisis in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 68 30. Water stress is also producing environmental degradation. It is leading to drought, resulting in desertification.69 For example, since 1970 Lake Urmia has shrunk by nearly 90 per cent. 70 The water crisis is having an impact on the economy. Parts of Kermanshah Province, which once produced substantial amounts of pistachios and dates, can no longer produce these crops. 71 These economic and environmental problems are contributing to internal displacement, with many farmers or inhabitants of smaller towns migrating to the 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 8 See www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-11-02/trump-s-iran-bank-cutoff-from-swift-willmake-u-s-sanctions-hurt. See https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31996R2271:EN:HTML. See http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-3861_en.htm. See https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/03/how-europe-can-blunt-u-s-iran-sanctions-withoutwashington-raising-a-finger-humanitarian-spv/. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000) on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, para. 12. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comments No. 3 (1990) on the nature of States parties’ obligations, para. 10; No. 12 (1999) on the right to adequate food, para. 17; No. 14 (2000) on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, para. 43; and No. 15 (2002) on the right to water, paras. 37 and 44. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 12 (2); and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14, para. 4, and general comment No. 15. See https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/27659. See www.wri.org/blog/2015/08/ranking-world-s-most-water-stressed-countries-2040. See www.tehrantimes.com/news/422583/Water-shortage-serious-says-environment-chief. See http://amir.eng.uci.edu/publications/16_IR_Socio_Economic_Drought.pdf. See www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/climate/water-iran.html. See www.atlanticcouncil.org/images/publications/Environmental_and_Wildlife_ Degradation_in_Iran1.pdf.