A/HRC/45/11 II. Background A. Recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation 5. The adoption of General Assembly resolution 64/292 in July 2010 represented a growing understanding that the human rights to water and sanitation are derived from and inextricably linked to the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to health and the right to life. In the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights the rights to water and sanitation were not explicitly recognized as human rights. However, in 2002, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted general comment No. 15, in which it states that the right to water clearly falls within the category of guarantees essential for securing an adequate standard of living, particularly since it is one of the most fundamental conditions for survival (para. 3), and reiterates that water is a human right contained in article 11 (1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also does not explicitly mention the human rights to water and sanitation. However, its monitoring body, the Human Rights Committee, clarified that the duty to protect life also implied that States parties should take appropriate measures to address the general conditions in society that might give rise to direct threats to life or prevent individuals from enjoying their right to life with dignity. 7 The Committee also noted that the measures called for to address adequate conditions for protecting the right to life included essential goods and services such as water.8 6. Further, the adoption of the General Assembly resolution 64/292 signifies an important step as the first international instrument that recognized the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights. That landmark resolution paved the way for subsequent actions by the international community, including Human Rights Council resolution 15/9, adopted in September 2010, in which the Council affirmed that recognition. Five years later, the Assembly, in its resolution 70/169, recognized the human right to safe drinking water and the human right to sanitation as two distinctive rights, which had distinct features which warranted their separate treatment in order to address specific challenges in their implementation. 7. The present report is aimed at highlighting specific cases of how certain aspects of those rights have been implemented in practice since the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council explicitly recognized safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right in 2010. The underlying background is that the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation is progressive. It would be simplistic to categorize an example as a “good practice”, since all practices have room to improve and to go even further to progressively realize the human rights to water and sanitation. B. Celebrating 10 years of the human rights to water and sanitation 8. The year 2020 marks the tenth year since the General Assembly recognized safe drinking water and sanitation as human rights. To celebrate, in 2020, the Special Rapporteur organized a year-long campaign, with each month focused on different themes. 9 He made available friendly versions of his thematic reports and the findings of the reports in the form of shareable media, blog posts, quizzes, videos, children’s stories and online challenges, among other forms. The year-long campaign is in line with the initial vision laid out by the Special Rapporteur; in 2015, the Special Rapporteur indicated, in his first report, his intention to establish communications tools and strategies aimed at reaching those who were most in need and at raising awareness of the human rights to water and sanitation. 10 7 8 9 10 4 General comment No. 36 (2018) on the right to life, para. 26. Ibid. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/10Anniversary.aspx. A/HRC/30/39/Add.1, para. 12.