At a virtual seminar themed “Let Us Breathe. Sanctions as violations of Human Rights,” former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Hilal Elver, condemned the imposition of unilateral coercive measures and described them as “criminal actions” affecting countries for the wrong reasons.
“The right to food and nutrition is one the most important areas of human rights directly affected by unilateral economic sanctions,” said Elver, who mentioned the case of Iraq, where the civilian population was the most affected by coercive measures imposed on the country during the war as a direct consequence of the lies told by the U.S. Government, by then headed by George W. Bush.
Former Rapporteur Elver said that countries such as the United States use the so-called sanctions due to geopolitical, economic and ideological reasons.
“They are adopted as some kind of political tool, morally benign and easier to handle than an armed conflict or an invasion, but their impact is actually deeper, longer and more significant, mainly aiming at the wrong targets (…) Actually, they are not political tools, but a postcolonial way to attack developing countries if their ideologies are not liked,” she stressed.
The former UN rapporteur pointed out that the application of coercive measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic are “criminal actions against civilians,” and recalled that they were strongly condemned at the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly.
Elver highlighted the devastating impact of unilateral coercive measures on Zimbabwe, where 90% of hospitals are closed, food is very expensive and the population’s purchasing power is very low, causing malnutrition, and she agreed with Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Arreaza that explicit and implicit sanctions affect entire nations.
“No country invests in Zimbabwe. There is no banking system. Basically, sanctions have isolated the country (…) As I see it, this is a crime against humanity,” she stressed.
Anti-Blockade Law in Venezuela
The seminar “Let Us Breathe. Sanctions as violations of Human Rights,” was aimed at discussing the implications of unilateral coercive measures as policies within the development of hybrid wars, and included lectures by Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Human Rights Larry Devoe, Vice-minister of Anti-blockade Policies William Castillo, Director General of the Gender with Class Foundation Rebeca Madriz, Brazil’s leader of the Landless Workers’ Movement João Pedro Stédile and former UN Special Rapporteur Hilal Elver.