A/HRC/34/57 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted by the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt on the enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 25/16. The report focuses on labour rights in the context of economic reform and austerity measures. 2. In many developed and developing countries, austerity-related labour law reforms have been promoted by multilateral and regional financial institutions on the assumption that they will lead to economic growth and thus prevent or help overcome debt crises. They have often recommended or insisted, as part of their lending conditionality, that the labour market be made more flexible through deregulation, downsizing the public sector and freezing or reducing wages and work-related social benefits in an effort to reduce government expenditure. A number of national governments have thus implemented these recommendations and reduced or eliminated labour rights — sometimes under substantial duress — in the hope of overcoming their financial difficulties. 3. In the present report, the Independent Expert intends to answer the following questions: What are the human rights implications of austerity-driven labour policies? Have they been effective at all in preventing and overcoming debt and financial crises? What should stakeholders do to avoid and/or minimize the effects of austerity policies? 4. The findings of this report give rise to some concern. Austerity measures and labour market reforms have often contravened the international human rights obligations of States, eroded labour rights and resulted in the retrogression of work-related gender equality. They have contributed to an increase in inequality and insecure and informal employment; fostered discrimination in the labour market towards young and older persons and individuals belonging to marginalized social groups; and resulted in the reduction of unemployment benefits and other job-related social protection. 5. The mainstream assumption that labour rights are generally detrimental to economic development has been challenged at theoretical and empirical levels and it has been, shown more concretely that austerity-related labour market reforms do not usually help economies to recover after crises. Actually, these reforms have not improved economic performance; instead they have inflicted substantial harm on working people, which will be felt for many years. 6. Section II presents the typical contents of austerity-related labour law reforms, which have frequently been undertaken in the context of financial assistance programmes of international financial institutions. Section III explains to what extent these measures have conflicted with international human rights obligations in the field of labour or caused other adverse social and human rights impacts. Section IV reflects on the economic effects of labour standards, in general, and the economic effects of austerity-driven labour reforms, in particular. Finally, section V presents conclusions and recommendations on how to improve protection of individual and collective labour rights during debt crises and times of austerity. 7. The Independent Expert thanks the Governments of Armenia, Chile, Egypt, Greece, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mali, Paraguay, Senegal and the Sudan; the national human rights institutions of Croatia, Ecuador, Honduras, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mexico, Nepal, Portugal and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and several civil society organizations for their responses to the questionnaire 3