E/C.12/2016/1 disproportionately affected by measures such as job cuts, minimum wage freezes and cutbacks in social assistance benefits, which potentially result in discrimination on the grounds of social origin or property (art. 2 (2)). Moreover, reductions in the levels of public services or the introduction of or increase in user fees in areas such as childcare, and preschool education, public utilities and family support services have a disproportionate impact on women, and thus may amount to a step backwards in terms of gender equality (arts. 3 and 10). 3. The Committee has prepared the present statement with a view to providing guidance to States parties and other actors on the scope of their obligations under the Covenant in relation to incurring debt. Borrowing States 4. The State party that is seeking financial assistance should be aware that any conditions attached to a loan that would imply an obligation on the State to adopt retrogressive measures in the area of economic, social and cultural rights that are unjustifiable would be a violation of the Covenant. The borrowing State should therefore ensure that such conditions do not unreasonably reduce its ability to respect, protect and fulfil the Covenant rights. As stated by the Committee in various general comments and recalled in a letter sent by the Chair of the Committee to States parties on 16 May 2012, it is the duty of both the State party concerned and the other States to assess the impact on the rights of the Covenant of the international agreements that they enter into and to take all measures possible to ensure that any negative impacts are reduced to the bare minimum. If the adoption of retrogressive measures is unavoidable, such measures should be necessary and proportionate, in the sense that the adoption of any other policy or failure to act would be more detrimental to economic, social and cultural rights. They should remain in place only insofar as they are necessary; they should not result in discrimination; they should mitigate inequalities that can grow in times of crisis and ensure that the rights of disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups are not disproportionately affected; and they should not affect the minimum core content of the rights protected under the Covenant. As regards the right to social security for instance, when faced with retrogressive measures adopted by States, the Committee examines whether: (a) there was reasonable justification for the action; (b) alternatives were comprehensively examined; (c) there was genuine participation of affected groups in examining the proposed measures and alternatives; (d) the measures were directly or indirectly discriminatory; (e) the measures will have a sustained impact on the realization of the right to social security, an unreasonable impact on acquired social security rights or whether an individual or group is deprived of access to the minimum essential level of social security; and (f) whether there was an independent review of the measures at the national level. 1 5. The duty of the borrowing State to ensure that the conditions attached to loans will not lead to violations of the Covenant is particularly clear when the lender is an international organization of which the borrowing State is a member. It would not be acceptable for such a State to circumvent its international obligations under the Covenant by transferring certain competencies relating to the subject matter of the Covenant to an organization, thus causing the organization to commit an act that, if committed by the State party, would be in breach of its obligations under the Covenant. 2 1 2 2 See general comment No. 19 (2007) on the right to social security, para. 42. See International Law Commission, articles on the responsibility of international organizations, art. 61 (A/66/10, para. 87), taken note of by the General Assembly in resolution 66/100 (see annex). GE.16-12655