A/HRC/17/37 I. Introduction 1. Between June 2010 and February 2011, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) convened three regional multi-stakeholder consultations – in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific – on the draft general guidelines on foreign debt and human rights (“the guidelines”)1 to assist the Independent Expert in refining and elaborating the guidelines. The first two regional consultations were co-sponsored by the respective regional economic commission. The third regional consultation was generously co-sponsored by the Government of Qatar. 2. The consultations brought together experts from States, United Nations entities, regional economic commissions, international and regional financial institutions, civil society and academia, largely drawn from each region. 3. The present report, which is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 14/4 and decision 12/119, provides an update on the consultations.2 It highlights the main themes of the consultations. 4. The Independent Expert and his team have benefitted significantly from all these discussions and wish to thank the co-convenors of each consultation, as well as the participants, for their time and insightful contributions. The Independent Expert further wishes to express his special gratitude to the Government of Qatar for its generous support for the Asia-Pacific regional consultation. II. Background, purpose and format of the consultations A. Background 5. In its resolution 2004/18, the Commission on Human Rights requested the Independent Expert on the effects of structural adjustment policies and foreign debt on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights “to draft general guidelines to be followed by States and by private and public, national and international financial institutions in the decision-making and execution of debt repayments and structural reform programmes, including those arising from debt relief, to ensure that compliance with the commitments derived from foreign debt will not undermine the obligations for the realization of fundamental economic, social and cultural rights, as provided for in the international human rights instruments, and to present a preliminary draft on this matter to the Commission at its sixty-first session and a final draft at the sixtysecond session of the Commission.” 6. In its resolution 2005/19, the Commission decided to convene an expert consultation to contribute to the Independent Expert’s work to finalize the guidelines (para. 22). 7. In its decision 2/109, the Human Rights Council requested OHCHR to convene an expert consultation for the purpose of contributing to the process of drafting the general Guidelines. The consultation was expected to (a) provide an overall picture of the impact that foreign debt and debt relief programmes, as well as different kinds of economic reform 1 2 4 The draft guidelines are available from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/development/debt/DraftGuidelines.htm. Summaries of all regional consultations and the lists of participants will be available on the webpage of the Independent Expert at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/development/debt/index.htm.