A/HRC/11/32 page 2 Summary In its resolution 7/27, the Human Rights Council invited the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to further consult relevant stakeholders on the draft guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights: the rights of the poor, including through the organization of a seminar, and to submit a report to the Council to allow it to take a decision on the ways forward with a view to the possible adoption of guiding principles on the rights of persons living in poverty. The present report draws from and summarizes all submissions collected during the two rounds of consultation of 2007-2008, which concluded with a seminar held in Geneva on 27 and 28 January 2009, with States, civil society organizations, international experts, including the independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty,* and other relevant stakeholders. Section III of this report also reflects the views expressed on the way forward with a view to the possible adoption of guiding principles. The consultation processes have disclosed a broad consensus among respondents on the importance of preparing guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights. Guiding principles have the potential to strengthen the implementation of existing international human rights law, rendering international human rights law and policy directly relevant to people living in extreme poverty. However, the current draft guiding principles require work in a number of areas. Significantly, their language and terms need to conform more systematically with those of international human rights law. Topics requiring further discussion include the level of detail guiding principles should have, how to strike a balance between normative clarification and operational guidance, and whether or how to deal with global and structural causes of poverty. Although there are a number of views and preferences to be reconciled, the collective input derived from the consultations reveals a widespread commitment to advancing this project. At the end of the seminar, the Government of France made a proposal on the way forward, recommending that the Human Rights Council mandate the independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty to carry out a revision of the draft guiding principles. The proposal received the unanimous support of all participants and the independent expert expressed her readiness to undertake such a task, should the Council so decide. * Hereinafter to be referred to as “independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty”.