A/HRC/11/10 page 16 Declaration can be fully realized”. An international order characterized by extreme indebtedness of low- and middle-income countries and an attendant inability to fulfil their human rights obligations to their citizenry is inconsistent with this entitlement.28 53. Under article 2 (1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, each State party “undertakes to take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the present Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures”. According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the phrase “to the maximum of its available resources” was intended by the drafters of the Covenant to refer to both the resources existing within a State and those available from the international community through international cooperation and assistance.29 The Committee has further emphasized that “in accordance with Articles 55 and 56 of the Charter of the United Nations, with well-established principles of international law, and with the provisions of the Covenant itself, international cooperation for development and thus for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights is an obligation of all States” and that “[i]t is particularly incumbent upon those States which are in a position to assist others in this regard”.30 54. In terms of article 22, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Economic and Social Council “may bring to the attention of other organs of the United Nations, their subsidiary organs and specialized agencies concerned with furnishing technical assistance any matters arising out of the reports [submitted by the States Parties to the Covenant] which may assist such bodies in deciding, each within its field of competence, on the advisability of international measures likely to contribute to the effective progressive implementation of the present Covenant”. In its general comment No. 2 (1990), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has interpreted this provision so as to include “virtually all United Nations organs and agencies involved in any aspect of international development organs of the Council such as the Commission on Human Rights,31 the Commission on Social Development and the Commission on the Status of Women”. It is therefore within the competence of the Human Rights Council, which has replaced the Commission on Human Rights, to consider the impact of foreign debt on the realization of the rights under the Covenant. 28 International assistance and cooperation must be directed towards the establishment of a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) can be fully realized; see E/CN.4/1987/17, annex, para. 30. 29 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 3 (art. 2 (1)), para. 13 (E/1991/23, annex III). 30 31 Ibid, para. 14. The Commission on Human Rights has since been replaced by the Human Rights Council; see General Assembly resolution 60/251.