A/HRC/33/49/Add.3 Government to provide access to water and sanitation in the Reserve. In 2011, the Court of Appeal held that the applicants did not need the authorization of the Government to use the Mothomelo borehole and that they could open new wells in the vicinity. The Government has allowed the 243 applicants to return to the Reserve — some with one-month entry permits — but it has not provided any assistance regarding access to water and sanitation. 61. Based on information received during interviews with residents of New Xade, a resettlement outside the Reserve, people in Molapo in the Reserve struggled to secure water by traditional methods, such as harvesting water from rain and certain fruits. In 2009, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people already noted that indigenous people who had remained on or returned to the Reserve faced harsh and dangerous conditions due to a lack of access to water, a situation that could be easily remedied by reactivating the boreholes in the Reserve.19 Some communities appeared to be caught in the transition from their nomadic way of living to living in a settlement. They could no longer move freely to look for water owing to restrictions inside the Reserve. At the same time, they did not receive adequate water services from the State in their settlements. People also opted to return to the Reserve, even temporarily, because they were bored in the resettlement without any work. 62. The exercise of their cultural or other human rights by these communities must not be the reason why they are excluded from access to water and sanitation services. In the report on her visit to Botswana in 2014, the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights stated that communities were willing to develop economically, but were not always ready to follow the model of the Government, preferring instead to seek alternatives that would enable to them to better reconcile economic development and the preservation of specific ways of life and world visions. 20 This also applied to water and sanitation. Meaningful consultation with communities is key to designing a sustainable solution for the communities concerned, therefore the Special Rapporteur urges the Government to continue and to strengthen its dialogue with the communities and to ensure equal and adequate access to water and sanitation for those in transition from nomadic to settled life and those living in resettlements. C. Women and girls 63. The 2011 Population and Housing Census revealed that male-headed households had a higher rate of access to piped water indoors (31.2 per cent) than female-headed households (29.1 per cent) and that female-headed households relied more on piped water outdoors and on communal or neighbours’ water sources (43.2 per cent) than male-headed households (36.9 per cent). The Census also indicated that a smaller percentage of femaleheaded households (48.2 per cent) had access to individual sanitation solutions (own flush toilets, own pit latrines, among others) than male-headed households (54.1 per cent). In either case, women and girls tended to be disproportionally affected by the lack of access to water and sanitation and also bore a heavier burden with respect to collecting and treating water and maintaining sanitation facilities. When sanitation facilities were not on the premises, the risks of privacy and security increased for women and girls. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur saw women and children carrying water in various types of containers and in jerrycans. This task obviously hindered women and children from fully exercising their other human rights such as the rights to work and to education. 19 20 GE.16-12031 Ibid., para. 98. See A/HRC/31/59/Add.1, para. 48. 17