The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation A/RES/72/178 appreciation of his reports on development cooperation, 12 as well as his report on service regulation and the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation; 13 4. Calls upon States: (a) To implement the internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goals and targets, 14 including the Goal on ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, consistent with their obligations under international law; (b) To ensure the progressive realization of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation for all in a non-discriminatory manner while eliminating inequalities in access, including for individuals belonging to groups at risk and to marginalized groups, on the grounds of race, gender, age, disability, ethnicity, culture, religion and national or social origin or on any other grounds; (c) To continuously monitor and regularly analyse the status of the realization of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation; (d) To identify patterns of failure to respect, protect or fulfil the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation for all persons without discrimination and to address their structural causes in policymaking and budgeting within a broader framework, while undertaking holistic planning aimed at achieving sustainable universal access, including in instances where the private sector, donors and non-governmental organizations are involved in service provision; (e) To promote both women’s leadership and their full, effective and equal participation in decision-making on water and sanitation management and to ensure that a gender-based approach is adopted in relation to water and sanitation programmes, including measures, inter alia, to reduce the time spent by women and girls in collecting household water, in order to address the negative impact of inadequate water and sanitation services on the access of girls to education and to protect women and girls from being physically threatened or assaulted, including from sexual violence, while collecting household water and when accessing sanitation facilities outside of their home or practising open defecation; (f) To progressively eliminate open defecation by adopting policies to increase access to sanitation, including for individuals belonging to vulnerable and marginalized groups; (g) To approach the sanitation issue in a much broader context, taking into account the need to pursue integrated approaches; (h) To consult and coordinate with local communities and other stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector, on adequate solutions to ensure sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation; (i) To enhance efforts to substantially reduce the share of untreated wastewater released into the environment and to ensure that plans and programmes for improving sanitation services take into account the need for appropriate systems for the treatment of sewage produced, including disposal of infant faeces, with the aim of reducing the risks to human health, drinking water resources and the environment; __________________ 12 13 14 17-22995 A/71/302 and A/72/127. A/HRC/36/45. Resolution 70/1. 5/6