A/HRC/11/32 page 4 Introduction 1. In 2001, the Commission on Human Rights stressed the need to develop guiding principles on the implementation of existing human rights norms and standards in the context of the fight against extreme poverty. In response, an ad hoc group of experts was entrusted by the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights with preparing draft guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights, which were submitted to the Human Rights Council at its second session in 2007. As called for in Human Rights Council resolution 2/2, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) circulated the draft guiding principles to obtain the views of States, relevant United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations, United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures mandate holders, including the independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), especially those in which people in situations of extreme poverty express their views, and other relevant stakeholders. 2. The implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 7/27, a second round of consultations provided an opportunity to seek further the views of all relevant stakeholders on the draft guiding principles. Respondents were invited to consider the following two questions: (a) the added value and practical utility of the draft guiding principles in helping to implement existing human rights norms and standards in the context of the fight against extreme poverty; and (b) the technical legal merit of the draft guiding principles from the perspective of existing human rights norms and standards. 3. The two rounds of consultation in 2007 and 2008 generated significant feedback, which cannot be reflected comprehensively in this report. While some comments are of a more general kind, others range from specific language modifications in tracked changes to alternative formulations, or even suggested additional paragraphs. 4. These consultations concluded with a seminar held on 27 and 28 January 2009, in Geneva, with States, civil society organizations, international experts, including the independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty, and other relevant stakeholders. While inputs gathered in the 2007 consultation are reflected in the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the draft guiding principles (A/HRC/7/32), a more detailed account of all views and comments is found in a background paper prepared for the seminar and in a final technical review of the process. These two papers1 were commissioned by OHCHR to an independent consultant, Dr. Margot Salomon, of the London School of Economics and Political Science. 1 These papers, which are intended to serve as main reference documents of a future review of the draft guiding principles, do not necessarily reflect the views of OHCHR, the United Nations or the consultant.