A/HRC/25/56 benefit. A lack of affordable energy impacts on communities in a host of ways: restricting their ability to reform and increase agricultural production; impacting on the ability to undertake entrepreneurial activities; and creating difficulties in providing electricity to enable children to study and clean, healthy options for cooking. The objective of achieving affordable, sustainable energy for all is therefore particularly relevant for minority communities. 76. A 2012 regional Roma survey, revealed that between 70 and 90 per cent of Roma surveyed reported living in conditions of severe material deprivation. Roma settlements frequently lack energy provision, sometimes because they are classified as illegal settlements and do not fall within energy and infrastructure plans. Communities in Bulgaria, visited by the mandate holder in 2011, described paying more for energy from private providers and being unable to afford energy bills owing to lack of employment and low incomes. Key questions must be asked at the national level, which include: who are those most affected by lack of access to affordable energy? J. Water 77. The Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, focused her 2012 report to the Council (A/HRC/21/42) on stigmatization in the realization of the rights to water and sanitation. The report examines different manifestations of stigma in the context of the human rights to water and sanitation and explores recommendations for policymaking and solutions to prevent and respond to human rights violations resulting from stigma. The Special Rapporteur found that stigma pushes people to the margins of society and results in the rejection, avoidance and marginalization of certain groups. Access to water and sanitation for many Roma communities is notoriously precarious. Similarly, the report highlights that Dalit habitations are often systematically excluded from service provision. 78. On 30 October 2013, the Friends of Water, UNICEF, the Special Rapporteur and OHCHR issued a press statement calling for the post-2015 development agenda to be framed around the principles of equality and non-discrimination in the context of water and sanitation.38 The statement called for future goals, targets and indicators to be framed to include an explicit focus on the most marginalized and disadvantaged groups and individuals, including through the use of disaggregated data. “Success” must be assessed in relation to the progress made in closing gaps or inequalities in access to sanitation, water and hygiene. New priorities should focus on the millions of marginalized peoples who have remained hidden within aggregate statistics, and who continue to have no access to basic services. K. Population dynamics 79. Population dynamics include trends and changes in population growth, migration, urbanization, population density and age structures, and are a core element of the consultations. However, consideration of this area of development rarely addresses inequalities and the dimensions of population associated with majority/minority relations. Trends towards urbanization, for example, are frequently least pronounced for minority 38 Available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Water/JointStatement_NewYork30Oct2013.pdf. 21

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