A/HRC/RES/31/11 3. 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; 4. Reaffirms the fact that responses to the global financial and economic crises should not result in a decrease in debt relief, nor should they be used as an excuse to stop debt relief measures, as that would have negative implications for the enjoyment of human rights in affected countries; 5. Urges States, international organizations and financial institutions to implement urgently financial market reforms in order to combat and prevent financial instability, excessive debt and financial crises; 6. Expresses its concern that the level to which the overall debt stock under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative is still low, that the Initiative is not intended to offer a comprehensive solution to the long-term debt burden and that some of the countries that have received debt relief are again at high risk of debt distress; 7. Reiterates its conviction that, for heavily indebted poor countries to achieve debt sustainability, long-term growth and poverty reduction goals, the debt relief under the above-mentioned initiative will not be sufficient and that additional resource transfers, in the form of grants and concessional loans and the removal of trade barriers and better prices for their exports, would be required to ensure sustainability and permanent exit from debt overhang; 8. Regrets the absence of mechanisms to find appropriate solutions to the unsustainable foreign debt burden of low- and middle-income heavily indebted countries, and that, to date, little headway has been made in redressing the unfairness of the current system of debt resolution, which continues to place the interests of the lenders above those of indebted countries and the poor in those countries, and therefore calls for an intensification of efforts to devise effective and equitable mechanisms to cancel or reduce substantially the foreign debt burden of all developing countries, in particular those severely affected by the devastation of natural disasters, such as tsunamis and hurricanes, and by armed conflicts; 9. Acknowledges that, in least developed countries and in several low- and middle-income countries, unsustainable levels of external debt continue to create a considerable barrier to economic and social development; 10. 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 the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,2 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; 11. Calls for consistent public spending policies that ensure full compliance with the human rights obligations of States and for those policies to take into account the fact that the human rights of the poorest and most vulnerable must be respected, protected and fulfilled; 2 General Assembly resolution 70/1. 3