A/HRC/27/55 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council by the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions 16/2 and 21/2. The Special Rapporteur examines the wide range of violations of the human rights to water and sanitation, seeking to increase awareness of those violations and to promote a greater commitment to identifying, preventing and remedying them. 2. In the report, the Special Rapporteur presents a typology of common violations of the human rights to water and sanitation. This framework is intended to assist States and others to identify and prevent violations, and to ensure access to effective remedies for existing violations. The Special Rapporteur draws on her work over the course of her mandate. To a large extent, her activities have focused on compiling good practices and providing guidance regarding how to implement the rights to water and sanitation. Given the multitude of violations she has been confronted with, it is crucial to complement this by devoting a report to failures in realizing those rights, shedding light on persisting human rights violations. 3. In 1992, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stated that we “tolerate all too often breaches of economic, social and cultural rights which, if they occurred in relation to civil and political rights, would provoke expressions of horror and outrage and would lead to concerted calls for immediate remedial action”.1 Even though recent decades have witnessed enormous progress in identifying violations, taking them more seriously and remedying them, at the national as well as the international level, there is still a long way to go before violations of economic, social and cultural rights provoke not only outrage, but also give rise to adequate preventive and remedial action. 4. The framework presented is based on a comprehensive understanding of violations that may occur with respect to all components of human rights and the corresponding State obligations. The Special Rapporteur hopes to promote greater awareness of violations that are most likely to escape attention. While it is generally recognized that a failure to comply with any human rights obligation constitutes a violation, key components of the rights to water and sanitation are still too often viewed primarily as aspirational policy goals. Many situations of lack of enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation have not been clearly identified as violations; judicial or quasi-judicial mechanisms have not been resorted to, and such situations have not been addressed with the urgency and level of commitment that they require, particularly in the light of their potentially devastating effects on large numbers of people. Where States have the necessary resources, it is unjustifiable that deprivations of access to even basic provision of water and sanitation persist. 5. Violations of the rights to water and sanitation are often connected with systemic patterns of exclusion and unequal power relationships. Greater attention to violations of the rights to water and sanitation and their structural causes can empower marginalized groups to secure effective remedies. Beyond remedying individual violations, identifying patterns of violation will also help to prevent such violations and will require governments to address their structural causes in policy-making and budgeting. 6. Violations of the human rights to water and sanitation frequently correlate with broader deprivations and other violations, including of the human rights to life, health, food, housing, education, work and a healthy environment. Lack of adequate sanitation in 1 A/CONF.157/PC/62/Add.5, para. 5. 3