A/HRC/45/10/Add.3 II. Legal, policy and institutional framework A. Recommendation on legal recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation RECOMMENDATION 1: Adopt legal provisions that recognize the human rights to water and sanitation at the national level (A/HRC/39/55/Add.2, para. 82(a)). 7. At the time of the visit, the human rights to water and sanitation are not explicitly recognized in the Constitution of Mongolia, and those rights can be inferred from article 16(2) on the right to a healthy and safe environment of the Constitution. A set of three legislation – “Law on the utilization of water supply and sewage in urban settlements”, “Law on the exploitation of natural resources”, and “Law on Water” regulate certain aspects of water and sanitation services. However, they do not address elements of the normative content and principles of the human rights to water and sanitation such as affordability including the prohibition of disconnection owing to an inability to pay, as well as the principles of equality and non-discrimination, access to information, participation and accountability (A/HRC/39/55/Add.2, para. 13). 8. Since the visit took place, a notable legal development has been made on the amendments to the Constitution passed on 14 November 2019, among which include the amendment to Article 6(2): “land, except for the property owned by the citizens of Mongolia, subsoil, its wealth, forests, water resources, and wildlife shall be state public property.”3 The amended article further states that “the law shall establish the legal basis for the development of strategically important mineral deposits in accordance with the principle that natural resources are in the hands of the people, and the majority of its benefits shall go to the people”. This is a welcome development since it creates a ground for the legal recognition of human consumption as the priority in the use of water resource, and clarifies the procedures for water allocation, which is in line with the human rights framework. Another development is the amendment to the “Law on Water” in January 2020, which provides a legal basis for the establishment of the State Water Agency, which is examined under recommendation 4 below on the institutional framework. 9. While welcoming the amendments, which constitutes a step towards implementing the Government’s obligation to ensure adequate and equal access to drinking water, the Special Rapporteur reminds the Government that such amendments do not explicitly recognize drinking water and sanitation as human rights. Explicit legal recognition of water and sanitation as human rights is critical as it shapes the environment in which a State can fully implement its obligation to progressively realize the human rights to water and sanitation. Recognition of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, and the establishment of the duty of the State to guarantee such rights in the domestic legal framework, would ensure the justiciability of the rights, enabling the individuals and groups to claim their rights and for domestic courts to adjudicate those rights. PROGRESS ON-GOING: The Special Rapporteur finds that the Government has shown signs of efforts to progress towards addressing water and sanitation issues in the domestic legal framework. He encourages the Government to work towards an explicit legal recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation so that the human rights to water and sanitation are justiciable and accountability framework can be established. 3 Parliament of Mongolia, “Amendments to the Constitution”, November 2019. 3