The following press release was issued yesterday in New York
Restructuring of
sovereign debt: UN Expert stresses GA principles are binding
NEW YORK (10 September 2015) – The Independent Expert on the
effects of foreign debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, welcomed today
the new resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the “Basic
Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes.”
“The new GA resolution is a positive step towards clarifying
which existing rules and principles of international law apply to sovereign
debt issues,” said the Expert. “It will for example provide legal guidance on
how to prevent and deal with vulture credits,” he added.
“Sovereign debts should be geared towards implementing
economic and social policies, with a view to achieving growth and development
in the concerned countries. Unfortunately, as it is too often the case,
sovereign debts can also throw millions of people into poverty, in particular
when resulting in a debt crisis,” said the expert.
Over the past few years, the United Nations has increasingly
stressed issues related to debt sustainability and development, and dedicated
time and effort to design meaning solutions to address them.
Moreover, the issues of foreign debt, debt relief, debt
restructuring and vulture funds have for many years been subject of Human
Rights Council resolutions. Back in 2012 and 2013, the Human Rights Council
deplored “the absence of mechanisms to find appropriate solutions to the
unsustainable foreign debt burden of low - and middle - income heavily indebted
countries, and that, to date, little headway has been made in redressing the
unfairness of the current system of debt resolution.”*
“The set of principles on debt restructuring passed today by
the UN General Assembly reflects customary law and general principles of
international law to a large extent and, as such, are legally binding,” said
Mr. Bohoslavsky.
“As outlined by UNCTAD over the past few years, this GA
resolution is not creating new rights or obligations, it simply identifies, in
a clear and systematic manner, the existing and well-rooted-principles which
apply to the field of sovereign debt,” added the human rights expert.
“The principles passed by the GA are meant to be operational
and to protect human rights during crisis times, and should therefore be
interpreted in line with this objective,” he added.
The Independent Expert will present his annual report to the
General Assembly on 26 October and will reflect on the need to ensure that
human rights law as well as the principles of legitimacy and sustainability,
two of the principles incorporated in the GA resolution, are respected when
debts are being repaid.
ENDS
* Human Rights Council Resolutions 20/10 and 23/11
For more information, check
“Towards a multilateral legal framework for debt
restructuring: Six human rights benchmarks States should consider,” available
at
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Development/IEDebt/DebtRestructuring.pdf
Letter from the Independent Expert to the Chairman of the
Group of 77 and China
UNCTAD Debt Workout
Mechanism
ENDS
Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky was appointed as Independent Expert
on the effects of foreign debt and human rights by the United Nations Human
Rights Council on 8 May 2014. Before, he
worked as a Sovereign Debt Expert for the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) where he coordinated an Expert Group on Responsible
Sovereign Lending and Borrowing. His mandate covers all countries and has most
recently been renewed by Human Rights Council resolution 25/16. He is independent
from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity. The
mandate covers all countries. Learn more, log on to:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/IEDebt/Pages/IEDebtIndex.aspx
For more information please contact:
Mariannick Koffi (+41 22 9179642 mkoffi@ohchr.org) or Gunnar
Theissen (+41 22 917 9321 gtheissen@ohchr.org) or write to ieforeigndebt@ohchr.org
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