UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution on negative impact of unilateral coercive measures - MPPRE

UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution on negative impact of unilateral coercive measures

By a vote of 30 in favor, 15 against and 2 abstentions, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted on Tuesday at its 46th session a resolution on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, and urged all States to stop adopting, maintaining or implementing unilateral coercive measures not in accordance with international law, international humanitarian law, and the Charter of the United Nations.

Regarding this important achievement of multilateralism, Venezuela’s Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, wrote on his Twitter account: “Today, the resolution on the negative impact of unilateral sanctions on the enjoyment of human rights was approved by the UN Human Rights Council. Their impact is so obvious that, as a matter of basic ethics, the countries that voted against it should lose their seats on the Council.”

Austria, Brazil, Francia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Poland voted against the resolution project proposed by China, the State of Palestine and Azerbaijan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), with the exception of Colombia and Peru.

The adopted resolution argues that unilateral coercive measures are not in accordance with international law, international humanitarian law, the Charter of the United Nations and the norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States, in particular those of a coercive nature with extraterritorial effects that threaten the sovereignty of States.

In this regard, the Council also calls upon Member States and relevant United Nations agencies to take concrete measures to mitigate the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on humanitarian assistance.

Likewise, the UN Human Rights Council is deeply concerned that, despite the resolutions adopted on this issue by the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, and the Commission on Human Rights, and contrary to norms of international law and the UN Charter, “unilateral coercive measures continue to be promulgated, implemented and enforced […] with all their negative implications for the social-humanitarian activities and economic and social development of least developed and developing countries.”

Furthermore, the Council also requests the UN Secretary-General to provide the assistance necessary to the Special Rapporteur to fulfil her mandate effectively, in particular by placing adequate human and material resources at her disposal.

In her preliminary report on her visit to Venezuela in early February, the UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan stated that unilateral coercive measures have had a devastating impact on the enjoyment of the human rights of the Venezuelan people, and called for their immediate lifting.