A/HRC/RES/14/4
bilateral debts of those countries in return for their making demonstrable commitments to
poverty reduction;
16.
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 the major
United Nations conferences and summits, including the Millennium Summit, the World
Conference on Human Rights, the World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, the World Conference on Sustainable
Development and the International Conference on Financing for Development, in particular
those relating to the question of the external debt problem of developing countries, in
particular of heavily indebted poor countries, least developed countries and countries with
economies in transition;
17.
Recalls the pledge contained in the Political Declaration annexed to General
Assembly resolution S-24/2, adopted on 1 July 2000 by the Assembly, to find effective,
equitable, development-oriented and durable solutions to the external debt and debt
servicing burdens of developing countries;
18.
Stresses the need for the economic reform programmes arising from foreign
debt to be country-driven and for any negotiations and conclusion of debt relief and new
loan agreements to be formulated with public knowledge and transparency, with legislative
frameworks, institutional arrangements and mechanisms for consultation being established
to ensure the effective participation of all components of society, including people’s
legislative bodies and human rights institutions, and particularly of the most vulnerable or
disadvantaged, in the design, application and evaluation of strategies, policies and
programmes, as well as in the follow-up to and systematic national supervision of their
implementation, and for macroeconomic and financial policy issues to be integrated, on an
equal footing and in a consistent way, in the realization of broader social development
goals, taking into account the national context and the priorities and needs of the debtor
countries to allocate resources in a way that ensures balanced development conducive to the
overall realization of human rights;
19.
Also stresses that the economic reform programmes arising from foreign debt
should maximize the policy space of developing countries in pursuing their national
development efforts, taking into account the views of relevant stakeholders in a way that
ensures balanced development conducive to the overall realization of all human rights;
20.
Further stresses that the economic programmes arising from foreign debt
relief and cancellation must not reproduce past structural adjustment policies that have not
worked, such as dogmatic demands for privatization and reduced public services;
21.
Calls upon States, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to
continue to cooperate closely to ensure that additional resources made available through the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria and other new initiatives are absorbed in the recipient countries without
affecting ongoing programmes;
22.
Calls upon creditors, particularly international financial institutions, and
debtors alike to consider the preparation of human rights impact assessments with regard to
development projects, loan agreements or Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers;
23.
Reaffirms that the exercise of the basic rights of the people of debtor
countries to food, housing, clothing, employment, education, health services and a healthy
environment cannot be subordinated to the implementation of structural adjustment
policies, growth programmes and economic reforms arising from the debt;
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