Unilateral and coercive sanctions imposed by governments can create severe and undue suffering for innocent people who bear no responsibility for alleged misconduct, the UN rights chief warned the Human Rights Council on Thursday.
Unilateral coercive measures by some governments are denying many people around the world the right to personal development, as well as holding back sustainable national development, four independent UN human rights experts said on Wednesday.
Independent UN rights experts on Wednesday warned that hundreds of Venezuelan cancer patients could die because they have been caught up in the excessively strict application of United States sanctions aimed at Venezuela and the state-owned oil company, Petroleum of Venezuela.
A group of UN independent human rights experts have called on countries to lift – or at the very least, ease – sanctions to allow affected nations and communities access to vital supplies to fight against the global coronavirus pandemic.
A new set of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela this week prompted the concern of the United Nations’ top rights official on Thursday, who said in a statement that she feared they would have a “potentially severe impact” on the human rights of the South American nation’s “long-suffering” people.
Economic sanctions must not be allowed to degenerate into blockades which “expose people to the ravages of economic war in peacetime” said the UN independent expert on the effects of sanctions on human rights.
Counter-terrorism and non-proliferation are on the agenda today at the Security Council, where at least seven sanctions committees will brief the main United Nations body responsible for maintaining international peace and security. We’ve prepared a quick snapshot covering the basics of UN sanctions and how Sanctions Committees work.
From Afghanistan and Angola to Haiti and the former Yugoslavia, sanctions implemented by the United Nations Security Council have had a positive track record, proving their efficacy and economy in supporting Member States overcome instability, the top UN political official said today.
The United Nations counter-terrorism panel dealing with Al-Qaida strengthened its work and cooperation with related UN bodies to more urgently address the evolving threats posed by the network in Mali, the Sahel and Somalia, the chairmen of the group today told the UN Security Council.
The official charged with helping people and entities get off the list of those subject to United Nations measures against Al-Qaida reported today that two people – of the 13 that had petitioned her office so far – have been de-listed by the committee that monitors the sanctions.
