A/HRC/42/47/Add.1 from 0 to 17 had lost one or both biological parents. 9 Orphans who are the breadwinners of their family become responsible for providing basic services for their families, including water and sanitation. 9. Safe drinking water and sanitation are fundamental for the health of the population of Lesotho. The prevalence of diarrhoea is higher for children living in households with unimproved toilets than for children living in households with improved toilets that are not shared. Similarly, the prevalence of diarrhoea is higher for children in households in which the source of drinking water is unimproved compared with those in households with an improved source of drinking water. 10 In a rural village about 20 kilometres away from Mokhotlong, the villagers testified that several of them had suffered from diarrhoea in early 2019. Further, a lack of safe drinking water and sanitation, combined with related diseases, increases the likelihood of children suffering from stunting. In Lesotho, approximately 33 per cent of children suffer from stunting and with their immune systems not fully developed, they are often less able to respond to water-related infections.11 10. Palesa represents many Basotho girls who spend their time walking and queuing to fetch water instead of going to school, interacting with peers, taking time to study or learn skills that will eventually shape the basis of their livelihood. In several rural villages that the Special Rapporteur visited, many explained that as a default common practice, girls did not go to school when menstruating. When children and women are provided with basic services, including safe drinking water and sanitation, their health, educational advancement and overall well-being are greatly influenced. Furthermore, they become less vulnerable to the risk of harassment, threats and sexual violence they face when fetching water at some distance or using sanitation facilities outside the home. III. Legal, policy and institutional framework A. Legal framework 11. Lesotho is a party to several international human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which stipulates the right to an adequate standard of living, including the rights to water and sanitation. Lesotho has also supported General Assembly resolutions that recognize the human rights to water and to sanitation as two explicit but interlinked rights.12 Furthermore, Lesotho is a party to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which stipulate rights related to an adequate standard of living and the principle of non-discrimination. 12. In Lesotho, international human rights treaties are not self-executing and legislation needs to be enacted to give a treaty the force of law domestically. The Government may implement its human rights obligations by appropriate means, including legislative, administrative, financial, educational and social measures. 13 However, the fact that the international obligations of Lesotho have yet to be integrated into national law does not justify the lack of implementation of those obligations. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur reiterates that in many instances, legislation is highly desirable and in some cases indispensable.14 13. The Constitution of Lesotho does not explicitly stipulate the human rights to water and sanitation. Instead, those rights can be inferred from article 36 on the protection of the 9 10 11 12 13 14 4 Lesotho Bureau of Statistics, 2016 census summary. Lesotho Ministry of Health and ICF International, Lesotho Demographic and Health Survey 2014. World Food Programme, “Country programme-Lesotho (2013–2017). Standard project report 2016”. See, for example, resolution 72/178, for which Lesotho voted. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 3 (1990) on the nature of States parties’ obligations, paras. 4–6. Ibid., para. 3.