Sovereign Debt and Human Rights

Sovereign debt is necessary for the functioning of many modern states, yet its impact on human rights is underexplored in academic literature. This volume provides the reader with a step-by-step analysis of the debt phenomenon and how it affects human rights. Beginning by setting out the historical, political and economic context of sovereign debt, the book goes on to address the human rights dimension of the policies and activities of the three types of sovereign lenders: international financial institutions (IFIs), sovereigns and private lenders. Bantekas and Lumina, along with a team of global experts, establish the link between debt and the manner in which the accumulation of sovereign debt violates human rights, examining some of the conditions imposed by structural adjustment programs on debtor states with a view to servicing their debt. They outline how such conditions have been shown to exacerbate the debt itself at the expense of economic sovereignty, concluding that such measures worsen the borrower's economic situation, and are injurious to the entrenched rights of peoples.

Ilias Bantekas FCIArb is Professor of International Law and Arbitration at Brunel and Northwestern (HBKU Qatar) universities and a senior fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London. He has consulted governments, international organisations, private clients and NGOs in most areas of international law and regularly acts as arbitrator. Key works include: International Human Rights Law and Practice (2nd ed, CUP 2016 with L Oette); International Law (3rd ed, OUP 2017, with E Papastavridis); and Introduction to International Arbitration (CUP 2015). Cephas Lumina is full Research Professor of Law at the University of Fort Hare, an Extra-Ordinary Professor of Human Rights Law at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, an Advocate of the High Court of Zambia and the former United Nations Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights (2008-2014). His work, particularly the UN Guiding Principles on Foreign Debt and Human Rights, is considered as having changed the political and legal landscape in the area of sovereign debt and human rights. He has consulted for various regional and international organisations, governments and non-governmental organisations on human rights and related issues. He is currently a Member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (2017-2021).