A/HRC/40/57 measures that respect human rights. Release clauses with regard to specific conditions should be put in place where actual or potential adverse human rights impacts are identified. 15.2 The obligations mentioned in the previous paragraph include, for example, participating in debt relief programmes and restructuring negotiations in good faith through a formal process of deliberative policy engagement and social dialogue. 23 They also include actively seeking debt agreements that are financially sustainable and respect human rights. Creditors should refrain from predatory or obstructive behaviour that could compel States to act in contravention of their human rights obligations in order to repay debts or directly impact States’ capacity to meet these obligations. 15.3 States cannot escape responsibility for actions or the exercise of functions that they have delegated to international institutions or private parties (re blended finance and privatization): delegation cannot be used as an excuse to fail to comply with human rights obligations, in abnegation of the extraterritorial character of these obligations. 15.4 Bilateral lenders and other public donors, including Government-guaranteed financial institutions or private institutions extending loans with government guarantees, have extraterritorial human rights obligations governing their decisions in the context of economic reform measures of the concerned States. Principle 16 – Obligations of private creditors Private creditors, when negotiating transactions with States or other public entities, including taking decisions in the context of economic reforms, should not undermine the State’s ability to respect, protect and fulfil its human rights obligations. Among other things, these creditors should assess the human rights impacts of their own actions as well as those of the activities financed by them, unless they have ascertained that debtor States or international and regional financial institutions have carried out effective assessments, including with regard to gender equality and the environmental impact. Commentary 16.1 In order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for adverse human rights impacts of certain actions or inactions, private creditors should carry out human rights impact assessments. This requirement should be further elaborated in national action plans on business and human rights. 24 16.2 In connection with principle 13 and commentary15.3, host and home States’ obligations to protect human rights, including their extraterritorial obligations, require the establishment of adequate safeguards against negative human rights impacts resulting from the conduct of private companies. 16.3 Private creditors’ obligations include the obligation to act in good faith, as established for public creditors.25 In addition, private parties bringing vague investment treaty-based claims against States in situations of debt distress could violate this good-faith principle, particularly when such claims are brought with the 23 24 25 16 General Assembly resolution 69/319. See Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (A/HRC/17/31); and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 24, para. 5. “Private creditors” include private bondholders, private banks, other private financial institutions, and manufacturers, exporters and other suppliers of goods that have a financial claim. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Principles on Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing, 10 January 2012, principle No. 7.