A/HRC/18/33 B. Target setting 28. National plans should set targets for progress in achieving access to water and sanitation, which provide the basis for accountability. Ultimately, international human rights law requires that States aim for universal coverage within time frames tailored to the country situation. Target setting must be undertaken with reference to an objective assessment of national priorities and resource constraints – going to the maximum of a State’s available resources. In this regard, some countries present notable examples. For instance, Sri Lanka aims for universal access to water and sanitation by 2020,23 while Nepal aims to achieve universal access to both by 2017.24 Such targets should utilize human rights criteria of availability, quality, acceptability, accessibility and affordability and provide specific definitions of each. 29. The ultimate goal of universal coverage should be broken down into more specific time-bound targets and benchmarks to be achieved in shorter time periods. A firm time frame for targets to be reached and activities required to achieve these targets are essential to determining concrete steps to be taken and to enabling people to hold the Government accountable for these targets. 30. The Economic Commission for Europe Protocol on Water and Health includes detailed provisions on target setting. It stipulates in article 6, paragraph 2, that States parties “shall each establish and publish national and/or local targets for the standards and levels of performance that need to be achieved or maintained for a high level of protection against water-related disease” covering different parameters, including water quality, levels of performance, and the occurrence and quality of discharges. States that have set detailed targets tailored to their country situation include the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Switzerland.25 31. Progressive realization also implies that States must move beyond minimum standards towards gradually achieving higher levels of service. States must balance short-, medium- and long-term measures to ensure sustainable service provision at a universal level, while giving priority to realizing a basic level of service for everyone before improving service levels for those already served. The Nepalese National Water Plan mentioned above is a good example, as it aims at universal access to basic service levels by 2017, and then seeks to improve these service levels to medium or high standards by 2027.26 32. Targets must be ambitious, but realistic. In some cases, targets are based on trends in access. For instance, one might examine the percentage of the population that gained access in the past decade, and then set a target which mirrors this rate of access. However, this approach does not take into account the maximum of available resources and may therefore be too low from a human rights perspective, especially in the context of historic underfunding of the water and sanitation sectors. Target setting is not just a technical or bureaucratic matter, but a political process relating to the decision of whether resources to the sectors must be increased to meet human rights standards. In other instances, targets have been set that are too high and thus unrealistic. Institutions will not be accountable if targets set are manifestly unachievable, thus taking on an aspirational nature. Targets must 23 24 25 26 Shanika Sriyananda, “Sri Lanka achieves MDG on water and sanitation”, Sunday Observer (Colombo), 3 April 2011. Available from www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/04/03/fea02.asp. Nepal, National Water Plan, p. 29. Available from www.moen.gov.np/pdf_files/national_water_plan.pdf. See www.unece.org/env/water/Protocol_implementation_reports.html. See note 24 above, p. 29. 9