UNDERLYING NOTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

Human Rights Obligations for International Financial Institutions (IFIs)

1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 is a “common standard of achievement for all people and all nations” (Preamble of Declaration). At the beginning of the new Millennium, the Declaration goes far beyond merely a moral or political obligation, as large parts of it belong to international customary law, while some rights have developed into jus cogens standards.

2. As a follow-up to the 1948 Declaration, a large number of human rights conventions have been adopted by the United Nations, including its Specialized Agencies, and by regional organizations. Regional and international supervisory bodies and national courts have established a serious and extensive body of case law and jurisprudence.

3. International human rights law includes civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, as well as the right to development. These rights are, each in their own way, relevant in the struggle against poverty as well as other activities performed by the World Bank and IMF, and, mutadis mutandis, other IFIs.

4. The traditional division between obligations of States not to interfere with civil and political rights on the one hand, and obligations of States to actively provide for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights on the other hand, is no longer reflecting the reality in the implementation of human rights. Instead, the division of obligations of States into three levels: the obligation to respect, the obligation to protect and the obligation to fulfill, has gained widespread acceptance in the international human rights community.

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