A/HRC/33/49/Add.3 water and sanitation. The Office of the President had initiated a process to amend the Ombudsman Act in order to include the function of a human rights institution. 48. Establishing a mechanism to which people can bring human rights concerns in a free, active and meaningful way is crucial to hold authorities accountable for the human rights to water and sanitation. Botswana should make the human rights to water and sanitation enforceable at the national level. At the international level, the Special Rapporteur calls upon the Government to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Optional Protocol, which will allow people to bring individual cases on the human rights to water and sanitation to the attention of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. V. Maximum available resources and budgeting for the rights to water and sanitation 49. The human rights to water and sanitation must be realized progressively, using the maximum available resources. This means that Botswana needs to allocate budgets specifically for water, sanitation and hygiene, including menstrual hygiene management. 50. In the 2015 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) Performance Index, Botswana is ranked 104 out of 117 countries in relation to the progressive realization of the human rights to water and sanitation. The index compares the rate of change of specific countries in improving equity and access to water and sanitation to best-in-class rates of change among countries at similar levels of water and sanitation coverage to generate a benchmark value. The ranking suggests that, compared to other countries, Botswana is not investing its maximum available resources to progressively realize the human rights to water and sanitation without discrimination.15 51. In his 2015 budget speech, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning 16 stated that, out of the total 12.93 billion pula for the 2015-2016 development budget, the largest share (3.32 billion pula or 25.7 per cent) will be allocated to the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources. Development projects include water-related projects such as North-South Water Carrier II (500 million pula) and Maun Water and Sanitation (89 million pula). The Government is reportedly aiming to improve the performance of the energy and water sectors in terms of sustainable development through an increased budget allocation for these sectors. The budget allocation is an essential step for providing access to water and sanitation for all. The increased budget should target not only water resources management and large civil constructions, but also increased access to water and sanitation in underdeveloped areas such as rural areas and new settlements. 52. Often forgotten in the human rights to water and sanitation is the cost of construction and maintenance of onsite sanitation and hygiene, including menstrual hygiene management in schools and other public institutions. In a decentralized structure, it is critical that the budget allocation to local authorities allows them to provide the support necessary to help those who are not served by the Water Utilities Corporation or to those who cannot afford water and sanitation services. 53. The benefits of investing in sanitation far outweighs the costs. For each dollar invested to achieve universal access to basic sanitation at home, an estimated benefit of 15 16 14 See Ryan Cronk and others, “The WaSH Performance Index Report 2015”, available at http://waterinstitute.unc.edu/wash-performance-index-report/. See Botswana, Minister of Finance and Development Planning, “2015 budget speech”, available at www.gov.bw/global/portal%20team/2015%20budget%20speech%20by%20honourable%20o.pdf. GE.16-12031