**5. Conclusion**

As shown above, there are not only efficiency and equity problems in the present regime of SDR but also fundamental questions of social justice. These problems are serious enough to be simply ignored. The literature in SDR reveals that there is hardly any dispute that reforms are needed to address these problems. There is dispute, however, in the *kind of reforms* needed in SDR which ranges from the

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**Author details**

the international order.

Maximo Paulino T. Sison III

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

\*Address all correspondence to: mowiesison@gmail.com

*Sustainability in Indebtedness: A Proposal for a Treaty-Based Framework in Sovereign Debt…*

adoption of clauses in debt contracts (to maximize flexibility) to enacting a fixed framework similar to a domestic bankruptcy regime (to maximize uniformity and predictability). If anything, a pragmatic approach to reform in SDR would have to

This paper's proposal to establish a treaty-based normative framework in SDR seeks to bridge the flexibility in *ex post* negotiations and the uniformity in *ex ante* rules. This proposal is not as ambitious as it sounds. By broadly codifying the norms in UN General Assembly Resolution 69/319, the proposal follows the Incremental Approach for reforms in SDR in the way it is *backward-looking*, because it builds on existing "soft law" approaches and other mechanisms and practices in SDR (for instance, it recognizes the role of *ad hoc* negotiations); and *forward-looking*, because it hopes to set the ground for more concrete and effective SDR measures in the future. As a whole, the approach of the proposal is to complement and improve the

Despite the proposal's declared strategy to accommodate the various positions of States, one thing that stands out is its call to codify the principle of sustainability that emphasizes "inclusive economic growth and sustainable development." This comes from the recognition that the articulation and implementation of this principle is a more effective way of undertaking SDR than a purely financial framework of preventing the State's unbounded accumulation of debts. It is premised on the idea that while there are no systematized rules, SDR is nevertheless situated in an international order that upholds a complexus of norms which includes human rights. Thus, this proposal is a call for a movement from SDR's current focus on the protection of debt markets to the broader economic, social and political context of

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82470*

current conflicts of law regime of SDR.

be between these two ends.

*Sustainability in Indebtedness: A Proposal for a Treaty-Based Framework in Sovereign Debt… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82470*

adoption of clauses in debt contracts (to maximize flexibility) to enacting a fixed framework similar to a domestic bankruptcy regime (to maximize uniformity and predictability). If anything, a pragmatic approach to reform in SDR would have to be between these two ends.

This paper's proposal to establish a treaty-based normative framework in SDR seeks to bridge the flexibility in *ex post* negotiations and the uniformity in *ex ante* rules. This proposal is not as ambitious as it sounds. By broadly codifying the norms in UN General Assembly Resolution 69/319, the proposal follows the Incremental Approach for reforms in SDR in the way it is *backward-looking*, because it builds on existing "soft law" approaches and other mechanisms and practices in SDR (for instance, it recognizes the role of *ad hoc* negotiations); and *forward-looking*, because it hopes to set the ground for more concrete and effective SDR measures in the future. As a whole, the approach of the proposal is to complement and improve the current conflicts of law regime of SDR.

Despite the proposal's declared strategy to accommodate the various positions of States, one thing that stands out is its call to codify the principle of sustainability that emphasizes "inclusive economic growth and sustainable development." This comes from the recognition that the articulation and implementation of this principle is a more effective way of undertaking SDR than a purely financial framework of preventing the State's unbounded accumulation of debts. It is premised on the idea that while there are no systematized rules, SDR is nevertheless situated in an international order that upholds a complexus of norms which includes human rights. Thus, this proposal is a call for a movement from SDR's current focus on the protection of debt markets to the broader economic, social and political context of the international order.
