Group of countries requests UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to include lifting of unilateral coercive measures in COVID-19 priority response plan

On Tuesday, April 21, a group of 10 countries requested UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to include the lifting of unilateral coercive measures in the current COVID-19 priority response plan her office is drafting. In a joint letter, the governments of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Russia, China, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, Iran, Syria, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela agree that coronavirus, as everybody knows “how terrible it is,” has encouraged a new drive to acknowledge the inhuman nature of the ill-named sanctions and their lethal impacts on the populations they affect. All of this considering that the financial and banking restrictions and the secondary sanctions imposed on different economic sectors have deprived these nations of their own resources and prevented them from importing basic goods, medical equipment and supplies to attend to COVID-19 patients, informed Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza on his Twitter account. The countries also denounced that these measures have had negative effects on efforts made by international organizations to help countries respond to the outbreak, “seriously undermining international cooperation.” “We trust that you, High Commissioner, will give the attention our call deserves to adopt urgent measures and support the world’s human solidarity.” On March 23, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged to urgently re-evaluate broad sectoral sanctions imposed on countries facing the pandemic such as Cuba and Venezuela. “It is vital to avoid the collapse of any country’s medical system – given the explosive impact that will have on death, suffering and wider contagion,” Bachelet said. Bachelet also suggested that sanctions should be eased or suspended, “both for global public health reasons, and to support the rights and lives of millions of people in these countries.” “Humanitarian exemptions to sanctions should be given broad and practical effect,” she stressed.