A/HRC/20/23 Progressive realization 15. The obligation of States to achieve progressively the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights requires States to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible towards the full realization of these rights. 16. States should ensure that their rights and obligations arising from external debt agreements or arrangements, particularly accepting an unreasonable or excessive obligation to repay external debt,6 do not hinder the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights. Non-State lenders have an obligation to ensure that debt contracts to which they are party or any policies related thereto fully respect human rights. Minimum core obligations 17. Every State has an obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, the minimum essential levels of each economic, social and cultural right. The minimum essential levels of each of these rights should be seen as the base level from which States should endeavour to improve the enjoyment of the right. 18. States should ensure that their rights and obligations arising from an external debt agreement or arrangement, particularly the obligation to repay external debt, do not derogate from their minimum core obligations with respect to these rights. Non-retrogression 19. States have an obligation to avoid retrogressive measures, that is, any deliberate action which has the effect of impairing the advancement in economic, social and cultural rights and thus hindering the continuous realization of these rights. 20. States should ensure that their rights and obligations arising from external debt, particularly the obligation to repay external debt, do not lead to the deliberate adoption of retrogressive measures. The duty of international cooperation among States 21. Articles 55 and 56 of the United Nations Charter and various human rights treaties and declarations reflect clear requirements for States to cooperate with and assist each other in order to achieve certain goals, including ensuring development and eliminating obstacles to development, finding solutions to international economic, social, health and related problems, and promoting universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms. 22. The duty of international assistance and cooperation enjoins States to ensure that their activities, and those of their residents and corporations, do not violate the human rights of people abroad and that States, individually or through membership of international institutions, do not adopt or engage in policies that undermine the enjoyment of human rights or further engender disparities between and within States. 6 The obligation to repay external debts is emphasized here (and in sections 2.3 and 2.4) because the amounts that a debtor State allocates for debt repayments are thus deducted from its “available resources” which, pursuant to article 2(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, should be optimally devoted to the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. 13