UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/10/6 25 February 2009 Original: ENGLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Tenth session Agenda item 3 PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT Report of the independent expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque* Summary This report of the independent expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation is submitted to the Human Rights Council in accordance with Council resolution 7/22. As the independent expert only took up her mandate on 1 November 2008, this report is preliminary in nature. The report reviews the history leading up to the establishment of the mandate of the independent expert, and notes meetings already held with various stakeholders to discuss matters related to the mandate. In particular, the report explains that the independent expert intends to take a thematic approach to her mandate, focusing on different themes each year, with the first year concentrated on sanitation. She provides a brief overview of the problem of lack of access to sanitation, and its connection to other human rights violations. She announces her hope to hold two consultations in 2009, one focused on elaborating the normative content of human rights obligations related to access to sanitation, and one focused on developing criteria by which to identify good practices with regard to the human rights obligations related to water and sanitation. She indicates her desire to present a deeper analysis of the issues identified in this report in her next report to the Human Rights Council. * Late submission. GE.09-11458 (E) 030309