A/HRC/12/WG.2/TF/2 page 13 48. The Chairperson of the Working Group noted that the World Bank and IMF had done considerable work to reduce the debt burden and introduced innovative programmes and schemes. A human rights approach would imply that, under any circumstance, expenditure should not be restricted to the extent that it amounts to violations of the rights to food, health, education, an adequate standard of living and social security. The inadequacy of social security provisions had created enormous hardship for the poor and vulnerable. The Chairperson enquired about the possibility of the World Bank, IMF and the human rights community working in partnership to develop out a debt re-scheduling programme, so that at least a minimum and basic expenditure was maintained to safeguard human rights. 49. The IMF representative agreed that certain types of spending had to be protected regardless of the overall situation, which he considered more a matter of fiscal policy than part of a mechanism of debt relief, because it involved governments designing their budgets consistent with their own objectives for development and ensuring that development partners did not interfere with those priorities. He also noted that the completion point triggers of the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative included requirements that the countries improve the delivery of certain social services, so that, together with the obligations of the poverty reduction strategy process, the resources freed up through debt relief would be used to advance the development agenda, through expenditures on key social areas. In response, Mr. Sengupta noted that, in a globalized economy, the extent to which States could restrain expenditure depended on the international system. 50. Mr. Marks referred to the position expressed frequently by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the independent expert on the effects of foreign debt, namely, that policies of the international financial institutions and WTO are determined by the same Governments that have legall-binding obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This would require, for instance, that Millennium Development Goal targets and indicators effectively correspond to economic, social and cultural rights, that gender equality is mainstreamed, and that efforts are adequately directed towards marginalized and disadvantaged groups. The enhanced efforts to provide resources that are desperately needed by the poor, together with measures for debt relief, fell squarely within what the task force perceives as the realization of the right to development. 51. In response to a number of questions, IMF noted that the obligations of States towards their citizens included management of public resources in a way that fosters and supports their well-being, although it was sometimes difficult owing to lack of capacity and external constraints. He also noted that the role of conditionality was to address the adjustment needed if there was a problem in the policy framework of a country, or if an external shock was likely to persist and could be financed indefinitely in a sustainable way. In this case, conditionality was an agreement with the Government on what needs to be done, rather than an imposition. To break out of the debt cycle, developing countries need external assistance to accelerate their development; in the current financial crisis, they also need additional resources. A key concern shared by the World Bank and IMF was that there was a need to not only maintain but increase levels of financing, to avoid losing ground relative to the Millennium Development Goals.