A/HRC/14/21 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 29 April 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Fourteenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the independent expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, Cephas Lumina* Summary Despite their limitations, international debt relief efforts have helped reduce the external debt burden of heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) and contributed to the creation of fiscal space for resources to be channelled to poverty-reducing expenditures and economic development in these countries. Evidence also suggests that the additional fiscal space has allowed some HIPCs to increase their public spending on essential, human rightsrelated social services, such as health care and education, thereby contributing to the realization of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, in these countries. Nevertheless, the voluntary nature of these debt relief measures has created opportunities for some commercial creditors to eschew such efforts and then attempt to recover the full value of their debt through litigation. These creditors — termed “vulture funds” — purchase the defaulted debt at significant discounts, hold out for other creditors to cancel their debts and then aggressively pursue repayments that are vastly in excess of the amount that they paid for the debt. These activities not only dilute the impact of debt relief by reducing the resources available to the targeted debtor countries to finance development and reduce poverty, they also diminish the capacity of indebted poor countries to create the conditions necessary for the realization of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. The present report, which is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 11/5, is intended to draw global attention to the adverse impacts of vulture fund activities on debt relief and on the capacity of poor countries to fulfil their human rights * Late submission. GE.10-13156 (E) 010610