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...

The introduction of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 1996 established landmark legal and policy innovations both in the regulatory landscape of sovereign debt and in the framework of international development finance. As the HIPC framework draws to a close, this paper...