A/HRC/RES/20/10 Stressing that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, 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, Noting with concern that the total external debt of emerging and developing economies rose from 2,678.4 billion United States dollars in 2003 to 5,414.6 billion dollars in 2010 and is projected to rise to 6,446.3 billion dollars in 2012, and that debt service payments rose from 795.2 billion dollars in 2003 to 1,743.7 billion dollars in 2010, and were projected to rise to 2,010.8 billion and 2,265.5 billion in 2011 and 2012 respectively, 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 to 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. Welcomes the submission of the report of the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights;1 2. Also welcomes the work and contributions of the Independent Expert and endorses the guiding principles on foreign debt and human rights, as annexed to his report; 3. Encourages all Governments, relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, as well as the private sector, to take into consideration the guiding principles when designing policies and programmes; 4. Requests the Independent Expert to develop a commentary to the guiding principles by inviting comments from States, international financial institutions, regional economic commissions, civil society organizations, the private sector and academia; 1 2 A/HRC/20/23.