A/HRC/28/59/Add.1 consult extensively with public institutions and interest groups, including extraParliamentary groups, improved the design and public acceptance of programmes. However, he noted with regret that economic, social and cultural rights failed to feature more explicitly in the agreed adjustment programme.41 VI. Conclusions and recommendations 79. Iceland managed the financial crisis better than many other countries and must continue its efforts to ensure that nobody is left behind. Household debt relief measures successfully protected the majority of homeowners — but not all — from poverty and social exclusion. However, a society that is rightly proud of its comprehensive social welfare system and considers children and family as its core priorities, should not tolerate that the risk of children growing up in poverty is at 12.2 per cent, which is higher than the rate of poverty for adults (8.5 per cent). 80. The largely human rights-compliant response to the financial crisis was not only an outcome of conscious policy decisions, but was also a reflection of the responsible behaviour of social partners, a vibrant civil society, committed and competent civil servants and individuals engaged in their communities and working towards the common good. 81. The Independent Expert believes that international organizations and countries facing similar situations can learn from the particular path chosen by Iceland, which included protecting its core social welfare system, efforts to ensure citizens’ participation in the decision-making process and endeavours to establish political, administrative and judicial accountability. He recommends that the good practices identified in this report be closely considered. 82. Financial systems require appropriate regulations and institutions aimed at ensuring that they serve the real economy. Yet, it is also necessary to reflect on the moral driving forces of the colossal over-borrowing that led an entire country into a financial crash. To what extent and under what circumstances are debt-based growth strategies necessary and consistent with the full realization of human rights and happiness? The Icelandic case shows that those questions are at the core of the role currently played by financial markets in modern societies. 83. In conclusion, the Independent Expert would like to recommend that the authorities of Iceland: (a) Address unemployment through a comprehensive employment policy, with special focus on groups at risk of long-term unemployment, such as young people and immigrants; (b) Provide further targeted debt relief for poor and highly indebted households; (c) Ensure that everyone has access, on an equal and fair footing, to social security benefits of last resort which provide a minimum essential level of benefits that are monitored and adjusted regularly according to the cost of living; (d) Continue its efforts to combat poverty and social exclusion, in particular of young families with children, single-parent families, persons with disabilities, immigrants and individuals who are dependent on the rental market; 41 See also Hjálti Ómar Ágústsson and Rachael Lorna Johnstone, “Practising what they preach: Did the IMF and Iceland exercise good governance in their relations 2008-2011?”, Nordicum-Mediterraneum, vol. 8, No. 1 (2013). 23