A/HRC/36/45/Add.1 Portugal conduct a study to analyse its own situation, particularly to assess whether the country is investing its maximum available resources to progressively realize the human rights to water and sanitation, without discrimination. VI. Population groups in vulnerable situations 74. During the visit, the Special Rapporteur observed the situation of the Roma population and people living in informal settlements. While the majority of the Portuguese population enjoys near universal access to water and sanitation, the situation of access to water and sanitation for those groups is of great concern. 75. The Roma population was granted Portuguese citizenship under the Constitution of 1822. A significant percentage of the Roma population living in Portugal, which is estimated to be between 40,000 and 60,000 people, still has no access to basic goods and services.30 The results of the 2011 Roma pilot survey carried out by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights indicate that the Roma community suffers particularly from lack of access to improved services such as piped water. While visiting Roma populations in Amadora and Vidigueira municipalities, the Special Rapporteur observed their unacceptable access to water and sanitation services, which constitutes a violation of the minimum principles of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. That situation is incompatible with the progress that has taken place in the water sector in Portugal, the so-called “Portuguese miracle”. 76. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that the Government of Portugal must endeavour to close the significant gap between the proportion of Roma who have access to water and sanitation and that of the rest of the population. He notes that the National Roma Communities Integration Strategy (2013-2020) does not include any reference to drinking water and sanitation. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that Portugal should acknowledge that its national Roma population experiences challenges in accessing drinking water and sanitation. The National Roma Communities Integration Strategy must include references to access to safe drinking water and sanitation and to the measures that need to be taken in order to ensure such access. 77. The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation mean that all nationals must have access to drinking water and sanitation. Water and sanitation services in Portugal come under the purview of the municipal authorities. A decentralized system relying on the municipal authorities to provide water and sanitation services may face challenges relating to the fact that information is gathered at the national level, which may well lack, for instance, disaggregated information according to wealth level, migratory status, ethnic groups and other grounds of discrimination. The lack of disaggregated information may have an impact on the formulation of national policies in which individuals and communities in vulnerable situations are not included and monitored. In that context, the Special Rapporteur encourages further cooperation and exchanges of information between the central Government and the local governments. VII. International development cooperation 78. The Special Rapporteur wishes to highlight the work of Águas de Portugal in the area of technical cooperation with developing countries. One of the missions of Águas de Portugal International is to work with developing countries, particularly Portuguesespeaking African countries, by transferring know-how, methodology and practices. Águas de Portugal International provides services at the international level in the water supply and sanitation sectors, capitalizing the know-how and technological solutions of the Águas de Portugal Group. Those services include water supply and sanitation management and operation and maintenance of infrastructures. 30 See http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/roma_portugal_strategy_en.pdf, p. 13. 17