A/HRC/36/40 Annex III Tilburg-GLOTHRO Guiding Principles on the World Bank Group, the IMF and Human Rights Underlying Notions and Observations Human Rights Obligations for International Financial Institutions (IFIs) 1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 is a ‘common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations’ (Preamble of the Declaration). At the beginning of the new Millennium, the Declaration goes far beyond being merely a moral or political obligation, as large parts of it belong to international customary law, while some rights have developed into jus cogens standards. 2. As a follow-up to the 1948 Declaration, a large number of human rights conventions have been adopted by the United Nations, including its Specialised Agencies, and by regional organisations. Regional and international supervisory bodies and national courts have established a serious and extensive body of case law and jurisprudence. 3. International human rights law includes civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, as well as the right to development. These rights are, each in their own way, relevant in the struggle against poverty as well as for other activities performed by World Bank and IMF, and, mutadis mutandis, other IFIs. 4. The traditional division between obligations of States not to interfere with civil and political rights on the one hand, and obligations of States to actively provide for the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights on the other hand, is no longer reflecting the reality in the implementation of human rights. Instead, the division of obligations of States into three levels: the obligation to respect, the obligation to protect and the obligation to fulfil, has gained widespread acceptance in the international human rights community. 5. The responsibility for implementing human rights is universal and concerns all — state and non-state — actors whose activities may affect people’s lives. The primary responsibilities and obligations in the field of domestic human rights enjoyment, however, remain with the State: States cannot ‘delegate’ human rights obligations to, for instance, international institutions and relieve themselves of these obligations. As international legal persons, the World Bank and the IMF have international legal obligations to take full responsibility for human rights respect in situations where the institutions’ own projects, policies or programmes negatively impact or undermine the enjoyment of human rights. 6. The two IFIs are also Specialised Agencies, having entered into Relationship Agreements with the United Nations in accordance with UN Charter Article 63. This is another indication of their international legal personality separate from their members, which carries with it rights and obligations according to international law. According to the Relationship Agreements the organisations are, and are required to function as, independent international organisations. It provides an organisational independence from the UN, not from international law. 7. The World Bank and the IMF are governed by their member States. When representatives of member States determine the policies of the two IFIs, they are bound by their States’ international obligations, including those arising from international human rights law. This includes an obligation on those States in a position to assist, to provide international assistance and co-operation. The obligation of international assistance and cooperation includes the duty to work actively towards an equitable financial investment and multilateral trading system that is conclusive to the reduction and eradication of poverty and the full realisation of all human rights. 8. As members of the UN the member States of the two IFI’s have legally committed themselves to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, including the 29