A/HRC/20/23 Annex Guiding principles on foreign debt and human rights Introduction The Charter of the United Nations expresses a universally shared commitment “to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social and cultural or humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” This commitment is also reflected in several human rights treaties and declarations. Further, article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms stipulated in the Declaration can be fully realized. The full enjoyment of all human rights requires that adequate resources are allocated to this goal by States, which bear the primary responsibility for the protection and promotion of human rights. Nevertheless, the available resources are often limited and resource allocation undermined by a broad range of factors, including the fulfilment of unduly burdensome external debt service obligations. There is extensive evidence that the diversion of scarce national resources from fundamental public services of education, health, water, sanitation, housing and infrastructure to debt servicing significantly reduces the capacity of debtor countries, particularly poor countries, to establish the conditions for the realization of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. In this regard, it is notable that the various United Nations human rights bodies have consistently observed that excessive debt service payments constitute an obstacle to development and the realization of human rights in many developing countries. 1 Where debt burdens have been significantly reduced as a result, for example, of debt forgiveness, countries have been able to scale up spending on poverty reduction and social investment. It is recognized that, depending on a variety of factors such as the loan terms and conditions, prudent use of loan funds and effective debt management, debt financing can contribute to countries’ development. It is also acknowledged that multilateral debt relief 1 See, for example, the following concluding observations, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: E/C.12/1/Add.106 (Zambia); E/C.12/1/Add.78 (Benin); E/C.12/Add.71 (Algeria); E/C.12/1/Add.66 (Nepal); E/C.12/1/Add.63 (Syrian Arab Republic); E/C.12/1/Add.62 (Senegal); E/C.12/1/Add.60 (Bolivia, Plurinational State of); E/C.12/1/Add.57 (Honduras); E/C.12/1/Add.55 (Morocco); E/C.12/1/Add.49 (Kyrgyzstan); and E/C.12/1/Add.48 (Sudan); Committee on the Rights of the Child: CRC/C/15/Add.218 (Madagascar); CRC/C/15/Add.204 (Eritrea); CRC/C/Add.207 (Sri Lanka); CRC/C/15/Add.197 (Republic of Korea); CRC/C/15/Add.193 (Burkina Faso); CRC/C/15/Add.190 (Sudan); CRC/C/15/Add.186 (Netherlands/Netherlands Antilles); CRC/C/15/Add.179 (Niger); CRC/C/15/Add.174 (Malawi); CRC/C/15/Add.172 (Mozambique); CRC/C/15/Add.160 (Kenya); CRC/C/15/Add.152 (Turkey); CRC/C/15/Add.138 (Central African Republic); CRC/C/15/Add.130 (Suriname); CRC/C/Add.124 (Georgia); and CRC/C/15/Add.115 (India); Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/57/38), paras. 149 (Uganda) and 155 (Trinidad and Tobago); ibid, Fifty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/56/38), part one, para. 227 (Jamaica) and part two, paras. 161 (Guyana) and 227 (Netherlands); ibid, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/55/38), para. 44 (Cameroon). See also Human Rights Council, Consolidation of findings of the high-level task force on the implementation of the right to development, 25 March 2010, A/HRC/15/WG.2/TF/2/Add.1, para. 54. 9