A/HRC/45/10/Add.2 rely on such services, such as persons who are homeless or migrants, are economically vulnerable, and should not see their right to sanitation threatened by an inability to pay. RECOMMENDATION 18 – PROGRESS LIMITED: The Special Rapporteur recommends that Government policies regarding the provision and maintenance of toilets in public spaces be put into practice and that facilities are monitored for its compliance with human rights standards. RECOMMENDATION 19 – PROGRESS ON-GOING: The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government monitor closely the continuous availability of public sanitation facilities to ensure that alternatives to open defecation are available at all time, and that these facilities fully comply with the normative content of the human rights to water and sanitation. B. Recommendation on informal settlement, resettlement and homeless RECOMMENDATION 20: “Provide equal access to water and sanitation services irrespective of the place and status of residence, including in informal settlements and resettlements and for persons who are homeless;” (A/HRC/39/55/Add.1, para. 71(s)) 74. Access to drinking water and sanitation in informal settlements was a concern in the various slums that the Special Rapporteur visited. In Mumbai, the country’s most populous city, slums were home to more than half of the city’s 18 million inhabitants but without adequate access to water and toilets (A/HRC/39/55/Add.1, para. 64). Where solutions did exist, it was not certain whether they were constructed by official authorities or whether their quality was being monitored. 75. The challenge of providing access to water and sanitation in informal settlements continued to exist after the visit. A 2018 study by WaterAid found that 74 per cent of residents had access to tapped water in informal settlements, as opposed to 69.9 per cent in non-slum urban areas.63 Residents of informal settlements rarely had individual connections, however, but instead used community stand-posts or unregulated wells with non-continuous access.64 The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to take measures to ensure this provision is fully human rights compliant, and to redress situations where the human rights standards are not met. 76. The lack of adequate water and sanitation services in informal settlements as an ongoing challenge has been highlighted in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to media sources, states with a high number of informal settlement residents have seen a faster increase in coronavirus infections than other densely populated states. 65 Even if only a subsection of the population has reduced access to hygiene through lack of water and sanitation services, the contagious nature of the virus threatens all persons. The inability to monitor informal provision, and thus to identify and address gaps in provision during such a crisis, limits the capacity of the Government to respond to the pandemic. PROGRESS LIMITED: The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government clearly includes in the national programmes for water and sanitation specific provisions to addresses the needs of persons who are homeless, and persons living in informal settlements and resettlements, regardless of their ability to provide formal proof of residence. 63 64 65 WaterAid India, The State of Urban Water Supply (2018), 15. Ibid. Down To Earth, “Covid-19: How do India’s Urban Informal Settlements Fight the Pandemic?” (22 May 2020). 19