A/HRC/17/2 17/7 The effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights The Human Rights Council, Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and other relevant international human rights instruments, Reaffirming all resolutions and decisions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights on the effects of structural adjustment and economic reform policies and foreign debt on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, including Commission resolutions 1998/24 of 17 April 1998, 1999/22 of 23 April 1999, 2000/82 of 26 April 2000, 2004/18 of 16 April 2004 and 2005/19 of 14 April 2005, Human Rights Council resolutions 7/4 of 27 March 2008, 11/5 of 17 June 2009 and 14/4 of 17 June 2010, and Council decision 12/119 of 2 October 2009, Reaffirming also Human Rights Council resolution S-10/1 of 23 February 2009 on the impact of the global economic and financial crises on the universal realization and effective enjoyment of human rights, Bearing in mind paragraph 6 of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, Stressing that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, Emphasizing that the World Conference on Human Rights agreed to call upon the international community to make all efforts to help to alleviate the external debt burden of developing countries in order to supplement the efforts of the Governments of such countries to attain the full realization of the economic, social and cultural rights of their people, Stressing the determination expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration to deal comprehensively and effectively with the debt problems of low- and middle-income developing countries through various national and international measures designed to make their debt sustainable in the long term, Noting with concern that the total external debt of low- and middle-income countries had risen from 1,860 billion United States dollars in 1995 to 3,545 billion in 2009, and that, by 2007, the total debt-service payments of developing countries had risen to 523 billion dollars, from 220 billion dollars in 1995, Acknowledging that there is greater acceptance that the increasing debt burden faced by the most indebted developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, is unsustainable and constitutes one of the principal obstacles to achieving progress in peoplecentred sustainable development and poverty eradication and that, for many developing countries and countries with economies in transition, excessive debt servicing has severely constrained their capacity to promote social development and to provide basic services to realize economic, social and cultural rights, Expressing its concern that, despite repeated rescheduling of debt, developing countries continue to pay out more each year than the actual amount they receive in official development assistance, 20 GE.12-13630