A/HRC/17/37 to their farmers while debtor countries were prevented, by the same creditors, from doing the same, to the detriment of their farmers. 51. Finally, concern was expressed that the lack of legal personality of key actors such as the London and Paris Clubs rendered it difficult to hold them accountable for their decisions which might have negative impacts on human rights in debtor countries. E. Session IV: Loan negotiation, contraction, management and use – the relevance of human rights principles 52. This session featured several presentations focusing on various issues relating to loan negotiation, contraction, management and use. The first presentation outlined the role of the African Legal Support Facility of AfDB. It was noted that the Facility is an independent entity which provided assistance to States confronted with lawsuits by vulture funds, as well as technical assistance on loan negotiations and agreements. 53. This was followed by presentations on the role of parliament and civil society in ensuring transparency and accountability in loan contraction, use of loan funds and debt management. The speakers identified the secrecy around loan negotiations and difficulty in accessing information on public financial management and loans as key obstacles to accountability and highlighted the need for parliament and civil society to be involved at various stages of the loan processes. Several proposals to enhance the capacity of parliaments to play an effective oversight role were put forward, including (a) strengthening the research, planning, monitoring and evaluation capacity of parliament, and (b) strengthening relationships between parliaments and other oversight bodies. 54. Participants observed that the issue of accountability was not comprehensively dealt with in the guidelines and underscored the need to ensure participation and oversight by parliaments and civil society organizations in loan contraction, use and management. Some participants requested the Independent Expert to facilitate capacity-building sessions for African parliamentarians on the issue of foreign debt and human rights. 55. The oversight role of parliament in relation to public debt was acknowledged and the need for reinforcement of constitutional and legislative frameworks concerning this role emphasized. In addition, participants underscored the importance of public debt audits as an accountability mechanism and acknowledged the value of external debt management initiatives such as those managed by the World Bank and the Commonwealth Secretariat. F. Other sessions 56. The remainder of the sessions focused on the form and content of the draft guidelines. The sessions were preceded by a sketch of the guidelines by the Independent Expert. 57. The discussions highlighted the need for the guidelines to: (a) incorporate references to international human rights standards (including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights); (b) stress the obligation of international assistance and cooperation in the realization of human rights; (c) link the guidelines to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness: Ownership, Harmonisation, Alignment, Results and Mutual Accountability; (d) emphasize that privatization should be nationally driven; (e) be less technical in order to make them accessible to all; (f) include provisions on an international debt resolution mechanism; (g) underscore the right of citizens to participate in the formulation of economic policies; (h) address cases of countries experiencing conflict, post-conflict 12