A/HRC/11/10
page 5
6.
From 20 to 23 October, the independent expert participated in the International
Symposium on Illegitimate External Debt, organized by the Lutheran World Federation, the
Church of Sweden and Norwegian Church Aid in Oslo, Norway. This event brought together
many significant actors in the area of illegitimate debt to discuss the topic and to propose further
elaboration of this emerging framework.
7.
From 28 to 31 October, he met with various stakeholders in Washington, D.C., in
particular from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter-American
Development Bank and NGOs. He also attended a conference organized by the World Bank on
the theme “Debt Relief and Beyond”, which provided another occasion to engage with key actors
in this area.
8.
While in Europe in September, the independent expert also participated in a workshop
organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
on integrating human rights into financing for development. This meeting resulted in a
contribution to the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to
Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, held in Doha from 29 November
to 2 December 2008.
9.
As called for in resolution 7/4, the independent expert attended the Financing for
Development Conference in Doha, where he made a statement at a round table examining
external debt. He drew attention to his mandate and urged delegates to ensure attention to human
rights in the outcome document. He regrets to report that the outcome document of the Doha
Conference reflects a lack of progress on issues related to debt, and fails to take a holistic
approach to debt and development.
10. At the invitation of the Commonwealth Human Rights Unit, on 8 December, the
independent expert participated in a seminar at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London to
commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, along with
the Special Rapporteur on the right to food (Olivier De Schutter) and the Special Rapporteur on
freedom of religion or belief (Asma Jahangir). The independent expert addressed the seminar on
his mandate and, together with the other mandate holders, met with the Commonwealth
Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, to discuss collaboration between the special procedures
and the Commonwealth in the promotion and protection of human rights.
11. From 27 to 28 January 2009, the independent expert participated in the Seminar on the
“Draft guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights”, which was organized by
OHCHR in Geneva. The discussions in the seminar centred on the added value and practical
utility of the guidelines, the content of the current draft and the process to be adopted in order to
finalize the guidelines. The seminar provided valuable insights which the independent expert
hopes to integrate into the process concerning the development of the guidelines on foreign debt
and human rights which he is required to undertake in the context of his mandate.
12. On 20 February 2009, the independent expert participated in the tenth Special Session of
the Human Rights Council on “The Impact of the Global Economic and Financial Crises on the
Universal Realization and Effective Enjoyment of Human Rights”. At this meeting, he called for
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