A/HRC/RES/25/16 Emphasizing that the World Conference on Human Rights agreed to call upon the international community to make all efforts to help to alleviate the external debt burden of developing countries in order to supplement the efforts of the Governments of such countries to attain the full realization of the economic, social and cultural rights of their people, Stressing the determination expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration to deal comprehensively and effectively with the debt problems of low- and middle-income developing countries through various national and international measures designed to make their debt sustainable in the long term, Mindful of the role, mandate and activities of other United Nations agencies, funds and programmes in dealing with the issues of foreign debt and international financial obligations, Acknowledging that there is greater acceptance that the increasing debt burden faced by the most indebted developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, is unsustainable and constitutes one of the principal obstacles to achieving progress in peoplecentred sustainable development and poverty eradication and that, for many developing countries and countries with economies in transition, excessive debt servicing has severely constrained their capacity to promote social development and provide basic services to create the conditions for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, Expressing its concern that, despite repeated rescheduling of debt, developing countries continue to pay out more each year than the actual amount they receive in official development assistance, Affirming that debt burden further complicates the numerous problems facing developing countries, contributes to extreme poverty and is an obstacle to sustainable human development, and is thus a serious impediment to the realization of all human rights, 1. Recalls that every State has the primary responsibility to promote the economic, social and cultural development of its people and, to that end, has the right and responsibility to choose its means and goals of development and should not be subject to external specific prescriptions for economic policy; 2. Recognizes that structural adjustment reform programmes and policy conditionalities limit public expenditure, impose fixed expenditure ceilings and give inadequate attention to the provision of social services, and that only a few countries manage to achieve sustainable higher growth under these programmes; 3. Also recognizes that debt relief can play a key role in liberating resources that should be directed towards activities consistent with attaining sustainable growth and development, including poverty reduction and the achievement of development goals, including those set out in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, and therefore that debt relief measures, where appropriate, should be pursued vigorously and expeditiously, ensuring that they do not replace alternative sources of financing and that they are accompanied by an increase in official development assistance; 4. Recalls once again the call on industrialized countries, as expressed in the Millennium Declaration, to implement the enhanced programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries without further delay and to agree to cancel all official bilateral debts of those countries in return for their making demonstrable commitments to poverty reduction; 5. Urges the international community, including the United Nations system, the Bretton Woods institutions and the private sector, to take appropriate measures and actions for the implementation of the pledges, commitments, agreements and decisions of major 2