A/HRC/33/49/Add.3 improved water and 63 per cent access to improved sanitation as of the end of 2015. 1 Rural sanitation is still poor and a significant percentage of people still practice open defecation. The Special Rapporteur commends the Government’s efforts to submit responses to the UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water for the first time in 2014. II. Legal, institutional and policy frameworks A. Legal framework 7. Botswana has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These international treaties contain legal obligations on the human right to life and obligations related to access to water and sanitation. However, Botswana is one of the few remaining countries that have not yet ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights — a strong legal basis for the human rights to water and sanitation. The Special Rapporteur strongly encourages Botswana to sign and ratify the Covenant as a legal foundation. Recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation is a crucial first step towards realizing access to water and sanitation for all without discrimination. The Covenant does not expect the State to realize these rights immediately. Rather, it provides a framework and guidelines on how to progressively implement these human rights. 8. Botswana has ratified regional human rights treaties, such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which obliges States parties to take measures to ensure the provision of adequate nutrition and safe drinking water. 9. International laws are not self-executing in Botswana. They require legislative implementation to be effective in national law. Nevertheless, Botswana is bound by international human rights law and principles. Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a human right derived from the right to an adequate standard of living, which is enshrined in, inter alia, article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These rights were explicitly recognized by the General Assembly in resolutions 64/292 and 70/169 and by the Human Rights Council in resolution 15/9. 10. According to international human rights law, the State must take concrete and deliberate steps to progressively realize the human rights to water and sanitation. The realization of these rights also requires providing access to adequate and affordable hygiene practices, including handwashing and menstrual hygiene management. Effective measures have to be taken in order to ensure adequate disposal and treatment of human waste. The Government also has an immediate obligation to ensure access to water and sanitation facilities and service on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for disadvantaged or marginalized groups. Even in cases where water and sanitation service provision is delegated to third parties — either private or public companies — the Government is obliged to regulate and monitor the activities of those companies in order to ensure that all aspects of the human rights are guaranteed. 1 4 See World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “Progress on sanitation and drinking water — 2015 update and MDG assessment” (New York, 2015), pp. 58-59, available at www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMP-Update-report-2015_English.pdf. GE.16-12031