A/71/302 wastewater treatment and disposal. Even in upper-middle income countries, it is estimated that wastewater from 75 per cent of households connected to sewerage is discharged without treatment into rivers, bays and the sea. 56 However, that trend is not necessarily linear, since in many cities in Africa and Asia, city-wide solutions for water and sanitation seem to no longer receive priority. 57 The bias towards water supply projects to the detriment of investments in sanitation, sometimes with insufficient attention to the sanitation chain, must be assessed from the human rights perspective. It is especially important to explore how that imbalance affects the enjoyment by the most disadvantaged of their rights to affordable and accessible water and sanitation services. F. Prioritizing funding for capacity-building 72. Owing to a lack of expertise or the use of inappropriate technology, water and sanitation infrastructure provided through development cooperation may not be well-maintained or well-operated, making it necessary to provide further funding for education and training. Capacity-building is key to ensuring the sustainability of investments and a human rights-based approach should be adopted in this respect. Doing so would involve the main stakeholders directly and indirectly concerned in the adequate provision of services and strengthening their ability to perform tasks and produce outputs, collectively define and solve problems and make informed choices. 58 Other forms of cooperation, such as public-public partnerships, which are absent from the policies of most international funders, can respond effectively to that need. In that context, it is noteworthy that a petition to the European Commission with 1.9 million signatures that was ultimately endorsed by the European Parliament called for the adoption of a human rights approach to development cooperation based on not-for-profit principles and solidarity among water operators and authorities, including capacity-building partnerships aimed at improving the quality of water services. VI. Conclusion and recommendations 73. The present report provides an exploratory and preliminary approach to analysing development cooperation in the water and sanitation sector between States and multilateral agencies, based on secondary data, published articles and responses to a questionnaire sent to several stakeholders. Some of the issues presented will require more thorough and in-depth research, to be performed through engagement with relevant funders and partner States, and will be addressed in a subsequent report to be submitted in 2017. That report will include, but will not be limited to, a review of experiences that illustrate the stakes involved in applying the human rights framework to development __________________ 56 57 58 22/24 See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, The United Nations World Water Development Report 2015: Water for Sustainable World (Paris, 2015). For a discussion on city-wide sewerage systems, see David Hall and Emanuele Lobina, “Public policy options for financing sewerage systems”, in José Esteban Castro and Léo Heller, eds., Water and Sanitation Services: Public Policy and Management (London, Earthscan, 2009). See Emanuele Lobina and David Hall, “ACP-EU water facility–partnerships initiative”, report prepared for the European Commission, 3 August 2012, available from www.rig ht2water.eu/sites/ water/files/2012-08-W-ACPEUPUPs.pdf. 16-13590