Call for input – 2023 Thematic Reports to the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly
Issued by
Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures
Last updated
25 August 2023
Closed
Submissions now online (See below)
Issued by
Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures
Last updated
25 August 2023
Closed
Submissions now online (See below)
Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 27/21 and 45/5 and General Assembly resolution 76/161, the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights is requested in fulfilling her mandate, inter alia, to gather all information relevant to the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights; to study relevant trends, developments and challenges; and to make guidelines and recommendations on ways and means to prevent, minimize and redress their adverse impact on human rights; as well as to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly and the High Commissioner to relevant situations and cases.
Report on UCMs and the Right to Health – 54th Session of UN Human Rights Council (September 2023)
As unilateral sanctions continue to proliferate despite their dubious legality under international law, the Special Rapporteur takes note of frequent reports that compliance and over-compliance with these sanctions prejudice the right to health, specifically “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” as stated in article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The first report will focus on this problem and will be prepared for the 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in September 2023. It will be based on the premise that the harm caused by unilateral sanctions affects individuals or specific groups of individuals, such as people with certain diseases or those in vulnerable situations, with spill-over negative effects on entire populations. The impact on the right to health can be direct or indirect.
Reported cases include the inability of patients in a sanctioned country to access medicines and medical supplies made abroad, and the inability of hospitals and laboratories to obtain medical equipment and parts that are necessary for proper diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Sometimes this results from prohibitions in the sanctions and at other times it is due to over-compliance with the sanctions by financial institutions and companies that seek to avoid legal or commercial risks and decline to process payments and ship authorized medical and related humanitarian goods to a sanctioned country.
Unilateral sanctions have also been reported to harm the right to health by preventing the effective maintenance of national infrastructure for supplying electricity and clean water for drinking and sanitation, by impeding exports of fuel to sanctioned countries, by contributing to economic crises that provoke mass migrations in which medical care becomes precarious for the people involved, and in many other ways.
Report on Secondary Sanctions, Over-Compliance and Human Rights – 78th Session of the UN General Assembly (October 2023)
The growing use of secondary sanctions as an enforcement measure for primary sanctions, and the widespread over-compliance with sanctions to reduce a variety of risks (risk of inadvertent violations, risk of being targeted by secondary sanctions, reputational risk, etc.), broadens and intensifies the impact of unilateral sanctions, not only on the right to health but on the entire spectrum of human rights. The second report seeks to examine these phenomena and the damage they inflict on human rights generally and will be prepared for the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in October 2023.
Its objective is to assess the nature of civil and criminal penalties imposed by sanctioning parties such as the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others, as these penalties pertain to individuals and entities such as banks and other businesses. It will examine the legislation that gives rise to secondary sanctions and their extraterritorial use; other forms of punishment including civil and criminal penalties; over-compliance and its impact; de-listing processes and questions about their effectiveness and efficiency; and the degree to which targets of sanctions, including indirect targets, whether residents or non-residents of sanctioning countries, have access to justice.
The circumstances listed above have led the Special Rapporteur, Prof. Alena Douhan, to undertake the two thematic studies described here: one on “The impact of unilateral coercive measures on the right to health,” and the other on “Secondary sanctions, over-compliance and human rights.” In accordance with the established practice of thematic mandate-holders, the Special Rapporteur welcomes inputs by States, UN agencies, regional and international organizations, businesses, banks, national human rights institutions, civil society, scholars and research institutions, and others who may wish to submit input for one or both studies, guided by the questionnaire below. Recommendations, evidence and case studies are most welcome. For this purpose, the Special Rapporteur proposes a non-exhaustive list of questions to facilitate input and collection of information.
While all submissions are welcome, and the below is by no means exhaustive, the Special Rapporteur would be grateful to receive input as a response to the following questions:
UN Human Rights Council Report: “The impact of unilateral coercive measures on the right to health”
UN General Assembly Report: “Secondary sanctions, over-compliance and human rights” follow up
Please send responses in WORD or PDF, in ENGLISH, FRENCH or SPANISH, to hrc-sr-ucm@un.org and specify “Input for thematic reports 2023” in the subject line. The deadline for submissions is 28 February 2023.
Responses will be used for preparation of thematic reports to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly and will be published on the web-page of the mandate unless requested to be kept confidential.
Association of Reintegration of Crimea
Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights
Norwegian Refugee Council - Iran
Organization for Defending Victims of Violence (ODVV)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)
Sociedad Científica Cubana para el Desarrollo de la Familia (SOCUDEF)
Sociedad Cubana de Cardiología
Sphere Foundation & LGBT Initiative Group "Coming Out" & Centre-T
GNLU Student Research Development Council
Wajih Hassan, Beatrice Meadows, Deborah Makari, Hannah Fialkoff