A/HRC/11/32 page 5 I. GENERAL VIEWS ON THE DRAFT GUIDING PRINCIPLES: ADDED VALUE, PRACTICAL UTILITY AND TECHNICAL MERIT FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE 5. The draft guiding principles are widely viewed as having the potential to advance the objectives of international human rights law. All respondents - Governments, NGOs and other stakeholders - expressed support for the development of guiding principles in this area and indicated that, in general, they represent an appropriate framework for shaping measures and activities in order to address extreme poverty across the world. As noted by the independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty, they are particularly relevant because there is no single document in the human rights law corpus that addresses specifically the rights or needs of persons living in extreme poverty. At the opening of the seminar, Alberto J. Dumont, Ambassador of Argentina and Vice-President of the Human Rights Council, recalled Council resolutions 2/2 and 7/27, which underscore that the application of international human rights law in fighting extreme poverty is a priority of the Council. 6. Zdzislaw Kedzia, a newly appointed member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, echoed the view of other respondents, however, when he recommended that the specific nature and objectives of the document be clarified before discussion of its added value.2 The document could be viewed either as guidelines on the human rights of the poor, bringing together relevant human rights standards and applying them contextually, as guidelines on the elaboration of an operational framework for poverty eradication, or both. 7. The Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons remarked that guiding principles would have an added value to the extent that, in addition to restating existing guarantees, they would also spell out specific aspects of rights that are particularly important for persons living in extreme poverty and address obstacles that, in practice, limit the enjoyment of human rights. Professor Wouter Vandenhole, of the University of Antwerp, suggested that a clear analytical account of how and when human rights are deficient in addressing extreme poverty should be provided for in the guiding principles. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions suggested that a real added value would come from setting out the particular obstacles persons and communities living in extreme poverty face, so that States may be provided with direction on eliminating those obstacles. At the seminar a clear consensus was reached regarding the need for a more operational, action-oriented and accessible document, as stated by the Governments of Canada, France, the Philippines, Turkey, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,3 the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS) and many others. 2 United Nations Development Programme and Wouter Vandenhole. 3 Hereinafter referred to as Special Rapporteur on the right to health.