A/HRC/39/55 130,000 people died en route in the Sahara Desert between 2011 and 2017 due to lack of water and food and the harsh weather. 11 17. In reception and detention facilities under the authority of receiving countries, States often do not apply the same conditions as those granted to nationals, and provide a lower standard of water and sanitation services to forcibly displaced persons,12 possibly on the basis of a discriminatory policy or owing to the lack of a policy on forcibly displaced persons. Poor conditions are sometimes used to discourage forcibly displaced persons from entering these countries or to expel them. In some countries, migrants are detained, even where irregular migration is not a criminal offence. Migrants and sometimes their children are detained in unacceptable substandard conditions, with poor hygiene, and limited or no access to sanitation, water and other services (see A/HRC/20/24 and A/HRC/28/68). 18. In November 2017, Australia withdrew from the Manus Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea, which detained asylum seekers pending the processing of their asylum claims. Following the decision, 606 asylum seekers who refused to leave the centre out of concern for their safety claimed that they had to dig into the ground in search of water, two days after the centre had officially closed.13 There was no water, food, electricity or access to medical treatment for those remaining in the centre. In Europe, many refugees, asylum seekers and migrants while en route, at borders and at reception, after dangerous and arduous journeys, have been subjected to immigration detention in substandard conditions, with inadequate and insufficient water, dysfunctional toilets and limited opportunities for personal hygiene. 14 In France, in the city of Calais and other areas along the northern coast, asylum seekers and migrants en route to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have limited or no access to water and sanitation, and in some instances have no choice but to defecate in the open. Even though the State Council of France ruled that such conditions constituted a failure by the authorities and that migrants were exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment, neither the Government nor local authorities have implemented the Court’s order to provide drinking water, toilets and showers.15 19. Even if receiving countries have limited resources, they cannot justify “restricting the enjoyment of the essential content” of economic, social and cultural rights because of lack of resources. 16 According to the Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, resource scarcity does not relieve States of their minimum obligations, which are non-derogable, to realize economic, social and cultural rights. States, particularly economically developed States, have no justification for providing forcibly displaced persons with substandard water and sanitation services or for using poor living conditions as a means to discourage them from entering the territory or to expel them. B. Emergency situations 20. In the immediate aftermath of a disastrous event, humanitarian actors implement an initial emergency response for a duration of approximately six months. 1. Camps for refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons 21. Forcibly displaced persons staying in organized camps are more likely to have better access to water and sanitation services and other humanitarian assistance than those not 11 12 13 14 15 16 6 Vittorio Bruni et al., Study on Migration Routes in West and Central Africa, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, 2017. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to water. See A/HRC/38/54, chap. III, communications PNG 3/2017 and AUS 7/2017. United Nations, In Search of Dignity: Report on the human rights of migrants at Europe’s borders, OHCHR, Geneva, 2017, p. 27. See A/HRC/38/54, chap. III, communication FRA 7/2017. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to water.