A/HRC/17/24 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 14/13, the Human Rights Council (HRC) requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit to the Council an annual report on the question of the realization in all countries of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs). The present report refers to activities relevant to the promotion and protection of these rights, with a particular focus on the activities of United Nations treaty bodies, special procedures mandates holders, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The present report includes a number of illustrative examples of the activities undertaken by OHCHR headquarters and field presences in the area of economic, social and cultural rights. 2. The year under review witnessed an important development in the field of ESCRs. On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly (GA) adopted a resolution recognizing water and sanitation as rights. On 30 September 2010, the HRC unanimously adopted a resolution affirming “that the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation is derived from the right to an adequate standard of living and inextricably related to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as well as the right to life and human dignity”, thereby anchoring it in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. In November 2010, at its forty–fifth session, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted a statement on the right to sanitation in which it highlighted the need for the full recognition of this right by States parties. In addition to the support provided to the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation and to the abovementioned resolutions, in 2010, OHCHR, in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT), issued a fact sheet on the right to water in order to raise awareness on the content of this right. II. Activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights A. Leadership in human rights 3. The 2010 annual report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Economic and Social Council focused on the economic, social and cultural rights of migrants in host countries (E/2010/89). Based on international instruments, the work of treaty bodies and special procedures mandate holders, as well as international and regional case law, the report highlighted the human rights obligations of States with regard to all migrants, including irregular migrants. 4. As Chair of the Global Migration Group (GMG) for the second half of 2010, OHCHR promoted and mainstreamed a human rights-based approach to migration within the United Nations system and beyond, thus contributing to increased responsiveness to migrants’ rights on the part of the international community. On 30 September 2010, the Principals of GMG adopted a landmark joint statement on the human rights of irregular migrants, stressing the principle of non-discrimination and States’ obligations to respect, protect and fulfil, inter alia, the economic, social and cultural rights of migrants under international law, including the right to the highest attainable standard of health, adequate food, adequate housing, just and favourable conditions of work. 5. OHCHR also conducted and submitted to the Human Rights Council a study on migrant children’s rights, including their rights to health, education, adequate housing and 3