equitable, development-oriented and durable solutions to the external debt and debt-servicing
burdens of developing countries;
15. Stresses the need for the economic reform programmes arising from foreign debt to
be country-driven and for any negotiations and conclusion of debt relief and new loan
agreements to be formulated with public knowledge and transparency, with legislative
frameworks, institutional arrangements and mechanisms for consultation being established to
ensure the effective participation of all components of society, including people’s legislative
bodies and human rights institutions, and particularly of the most vulnerable or disadvantaged, in
the design, application and evaluation of strategies, policies and programmes, as well as in the
follow-up to and systematic national supervision of their implementation, and for
macroeconomic and financial policy issues to be integrated, on an equal footing and in a
consistent way, in the realization of broader social development goals, taking into account the
national context and the priorities and needs of the debtor countries to allocate resources in a
way that ensures balanced development conducive to the overall realization of human rights;
16. Also stresses that the economic reform programmes arising from foreign debt should
maximize the policy space of developing countries in pursuing their national development
efforts, taking into account the views of relevant stakeholders in a way that ensures balanced
development conducive to the overall realization of all human rights;
17. Further stresses that the economic programmes arising from foreign debt relief and
cancellation must not reproduce past structural adjustment policies that have not worked, such as
dogmatic demands for privatization and reduced public services;
18. Calls upon States, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to continue
to cooperate closely to ensure that additional resources made available through the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
and other new initiatives are absorbed in the recipient countries without affecting ongoing
programmes;
19. Calls upon creditors, particularly international financial institutions, and debtors
alike to consider the preparation of human rights impact assessments with regard to development
projects, loan agreements or Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers;
20. Reaffirms that the exercise of the basic rights of the people of debtor countries to
food, housing, clothing, employment, education, health services and a healthy environment
cannot be subordinated to the implementation of structural adjustment policies, growth
programmes and economic reforms arising from the debt;
21. Urges States, international financial institutions and the private sector to take urgent
measures to alleviate the debt problem of those developing countries particularly affected by
HIV/AIDS, so that more financial resources can be released and used for health care, research
and treatment of the population in the affected countries;
22. Reiterates its view that, in order to find a durable solution to the debt problem and
for the consideration of any new debt resolution mechanism, there is a need for a broad political
dialogue between creditor and debtor countries and the multilateral financial institutions, within
the United Nations system, based on the principle of shared interests and responsibilities;
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