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agreements—but they go further by elaborating the concept of extraterritorial obligations with regardto jurisdiction, government responsibilities and human rights obligations. They are not currentlybinding for governments but represent a careful interpretation of the extraterritorial human rightsobligations of States based on existing international law. 147The Principles lay out the extraterritorial dimensions of the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil rights.The obligation to respect: A government may not interfere with the enjoyment of economic andsocial rights outside of the State’s territory (principles 20 and 21). Direct interference refers to conductby the government itself that impairs the realization of rights. Indirect interference refers to actionsby one government that undermine the ability of another government to comply with human rightsobligations. This can happen, for instance, if the policies of one government affect the choicesavailable to another government in ways that undermine the realization of rights.The obligation to protect: The obligation to protect includes the obligation to establish a regulatoryenvironment that prevents international organizations, transnational corporations and individualsfrom taking actions that undermine the realization of rights beyond a State’s borders. 148 Theseextraterritorial obligations include omissions by the State, such as one State’s failure to adequatelyregulate the actions of third parties in ways that have negative consequences for rights elsewhere(principle 20). The failure to adequately regulate financial markets in the United States, whichcontributed to the 2008 global economic crisis, is an example of this kind of omission.The obligation to fulfil: Governments should create an environment conducive to realizing rightsthrough their own policy choices and through international cooperation in a range of areas:international trade, investment, finance, taxation, environmental protection and developmentcooperation (principle 29). International coordination includes actions within internationalorganizations—such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF and the World TradeOrganization—that contribute to the fulfilment of rights within and beyond each State’s territory.RecommendationsTransforming macroeconomic policy for theachievement of substantive equality requiresmore and better global coordination and changesto global governance institutions. Grounded ininternational law, the Maastricht Principles providea foundation on which to build a rights-basedsystem of global governance that would allow for acoordinated approach to macroeconomic policies.To move forward, countries should:• Formally adopt a common approach toextraterritorial obligations and globalcooperation, based on the MaastrichtPrinciples, to improve global governance forthe realization of economic and social rights• Proceed to concretize the mechanisms for theeffective application of these extraterritorialobligations, based on the Maastricht Principles• Adopt a coordinated approach to tax policyto eliminate tax havens and to reduce taxavoidance and evasion• Ensure that international trade andinvestment agreements do not curtail policyspace in a way that undermines substantiveequality and the realization of rights• Improve women’s representation inleadership positions of global economicgovernance institutions.