Tan, Celine (2011) Life, debt and human rights : contextualising the international regime for sovereign debt relief. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick. Warwick School of Law Research Paper (Number 2011/09).

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Abstract

Since 1996, the G8 and other northern creditor states have accepted the principle of debt cancellation in the sovereign debt regime, responding to the political impetus to address third world indebtedness through a series of official debt relief programmes. However, the long-term sustainability of this approach is uncertain. The international regime for sovereign debt relief remains ad-hoc in nature and relies heavily on the political will of key creditor states. Further, despite a notional operational link between debt relief and poverty reduction, the current system prioritizes debt servicing over and above a state’s duty to provide for the social and economic welfare of its citizens.

This paper considers the notion of debt relief for developing countries within a wider context of global redistributive justice, global public goods and human rights. It argues that the limitations of the contemporary debt regime stem from its underlying conceptual approach to debt relief, viewing sovereign indebtedness as a problem of bad governance and poor fiscal management and not one that is symptomatic of the wider structural deficiencies of the global economic system. The paper argues that debt relief and mechanisms for achieving them must be located within a wider systemic reform of the international financial architecture and that this, in turn, must be located within a human rights-based framework. The systemic issues of the international financial architecture and the asymmetrical regulatory norms of international finance contribute to the problem of sovereign indebtedness.

Item Type:	Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law
Series Name:	Warwick School of Law Research Paper
Publisher:	University of Warwick
Place of Publication:	Coventry
Official Date:	25 October 2011
Dates:	Date Event 25 October 2011 Published
Number:	Number 2011/09
Number of Pages:	20
Institution:	University of Warwick
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access (Creative Commons)
Open Access Version:	SSRN

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• Life, debt and human rights : contextualising the international regime for sovereign debt relief. (deposited 21 May 2014 10:54) [Currently Displayed]
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