A/HRC/4/10 page 6 him to provide the General Assembly with an update on recent developments concerning the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), in particular, with regards to the current debate on concept, implementation modalities and impact of this initiative on the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and all human rights. 6. In his 2006 annual report to the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2006/46), the independent expert highlighted some of the obstacles and challenges faced with respect to the elaboration of the guidelines requested by Commission resolutions 2004/18 and 2005/19. The independent expert, therefore, had recommended the extension of the time frame for the elaboration of the guidelines, in particular in order to relaunch the consultation process with all stakeholders. The independent expert would like to thank those countries and institutions that have already provided inputs to this work. At the same time, he wishes to reiterate his call on those Member States that have not yet done so to submit their views and suggestions as he has repeatedly solicited in that regard. 7. Having thus retraced the evolution of the mandate over the past years, the present report summarizes the main findings on recent debt relief initiatives, including underlying concepts of debt sustainability, as well as the impact of these initiatives on poverty reduction and on the realization of all human rights. In its second part, the report identifies some standard reform policies promoted by the multilateral institutions and frequently used within poverty reduction strategies. The report analyses possible impacts of these elements on the achievement of all human rights, in particular economic, social and cultural rights. The report concludes with recommendations on the above-mentioned issues that could be integrated into the general guidelines. I. FOREIGN DEBT, DEBT RELIEF INITIATIVES AND HUMAN RIGHTS A. Context 8. The World Bank statistics indicate that the overall debt stock of low-income countries currently stands at about US$ 426 billion. The annual debt service arising from this stock is estimated at US$ 32.6 billion. The debt stock figures are considerably higher for middle-income countries that have accumulated a debt stock of about US$ 2.3 trillion and annual debt service obligations of US$ 415 billion.1 B. Past debt relief operations 9. A lack of economic growth, falling commodity prices and economic shocks contributed during the 1970s and 1980s to an accelerated accumulation of foreign debt in many poor countries, to levels generally considered as “unsustainable”. Debt relief initiatives by “Paris Club” bilateral creditors started in the 1970s and gained speed during the 1980s and 1990s when bilateral debt stocks where subsequently cut by 33 per cent under the Toronto terms for low-income countries in 1988, 50 per cent under the London terms in 1991, 67 per cent under the Naples terms in December 1994 and finally by 90 per cent under the Cologne terms in November 1999. However, during the 1990s it became increasingly clear that bilateral debt reduction alone was insufficient to bring poor countries’ debt down to sustainable thresholds and consequently, a new relief initiative was called for, also involving multilateral lenders such as the World Bank, the IMF, and regional development banks.2