GENEVA - A UN expert today expressed serious concern about the expanded use of unilateral coercive measures globally, from Cuba to Iran.
"Unilateral sanctions are creating severe humanitarian crises and punishing entire populations for political disputes they have no voice in," said Zaina Jallad, Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights.
In a report to the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, Jallad stressed that the latest escalation follows six decades of proliferating unilateral sanctions imposed outside the framework of the UN Security Council and applicable obligations under international law - the effects of which are often aggravated by extensive de-risking policies and overcompliance by third parties.
In Cuba, entire generations have lived under the constraints imposed by US sanctions, which obstruct fundamental rights - particularly those related to food, health, education, international cooperation and humanitarian support, as well as access to essential public services and infrastructure.
"These measures depress growth and development, increase indebtedness and undermine conditions of life for entire populations that have no meaningful participation in the political disputes giving rise to the sanctions," the Special Rapporteur said. "Impacted populations are held hostage to conditions in which fundamental rights are denied, with the heaviest burdens falling on those in vulnerable situations, including persons with chronic diseases and persons with disabilities."
The report lays out a framework that brings together the universality of human rights, the everyday experiences of affected populations, pathways through which harm is produced and the obligations of prevention, remedy, restitution and recovery. This methodology deepens, systematises and extends the human rights-based approach developed during the first 11 years of the mandate.
"Embedding these elements as a constitutive part of the mandate's analysis is crucial at a time of profound strain on the multilateral order, when populations affected by unilateral coercive measures are increasingly unable to count on the protective architecture that the system was designed to provide," Jallad said. "These measures intimidate States and other actors, generating chilling effects across the international system, erode multilateral cooperation and undercut the primacy of international law."
Recent unilateral sanctions have also targeted judges, prosecutors, and officials of the International Criminal Court, as well as human rights defenders, including a fellow Special Rapporteur, and organisations.
"The record of the mandate documents the human cost of these measures that can be counted in lives lost, development gains reversed and futures narrowed," she said. "I intend to further examine these impacts on human rights, including their implications for the erosion of the collective right to self-determination."
