A/HRC/7/9 page 6 II. KEY PRINCIPLES OF THE DRAFT GUIDELINES A. Minimum standards, core content and core obligations 10. The main objective of the draft general guidelines elaborated by the independent expert is to provide some indication on how economic reform policies and foreign debt schemes should be designed and implemented in order not to undermine States’ obligations to ensure the full realization by their citizenry of fundamental economic, social and cultural rights. Consequently, policies related to economic reforms and foreign debt need to be developed based on the core content of these fundamental human rights. 11. Concrete thresholds reflecting the attainment of economic, social and cultural rights are not always available or measurable. The general comments of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide some indication in this regard. Nonetheless, it is often not easy to extrapolate core content of the relevant rights from such an authoritative interpretation of the provisions of the relevant instruments in a concrete and measurable way. The essential drug list published by the World Health Organization, or the requirements concerning universal, free and mandatory primary education, are some of the concrete examples which help identify basic standards that any policy measures to facilitate economic reforms or to meet debt-related obligations must not undermine. In other areas, such as basic shelter or access to drinking water, minimum standards cannot be easily determined in a generalized way, as they often depend on the specific context in each country, including, for example, different climatic conditions. 12. While it is important that international norms continue to be further strengthened, for instance, through consideration of general comments and interpretation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the light of the new challenges associated with development (for example, HIV/AIDS and globalization), it is important to recognize that national conditions are so different that the minimum standards or core content of human rights to be safeguarded against the economic reforms and foreign debt burdens cannot be easily expressed as a universal international standard. 13. Therefore, the draft general guidelines are not intended to formulate a global definition of core content or to set some minimum standards to be observed by all countries. In fact, the guidelines are designed to encourage countries to elaborate their own context-specific standards, benchmarks and indicators. At the same time, such an exercise must of necessity be in line with the requirements of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and should take into account the ongoing efforts being made by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to clarify and interpret requirements of the Covenant. 14. The identification of country-specific standards should also be a dynamic process. Regular reviews will have to be made in order to reflect changes in the country context to consider other useful guidance developed by human rights bodies. In this sense, the minimum norms at the country level may be determined within a fairly flexible framework. However, national minimum standards, within such a dynamic framework, should be defined regardless of the availability of resources and the recognition that economic, social and cultural rights are to be implemented progressively.