Background

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.

Objective

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.

Key questions and input sought

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”

1. Are unilateral sanctions affecting the right to health? Whose health is impacted – individuals, groups of people (please specify), the entire population? In what ways are they affected? Specific examples would be most appreciated.
2. What are the policy challenges and practical challenges to healthcare in your country that arise from unilateral sanctions? For States, how is the Government confronting these challenges, and how effectively is it able to do so? Do the sanctions impede its ability to respond to health concerns? If so, please specify how (financially, materially, etc.) in as much detail as possible.
3. What specifically is impeded by unilateral sanctions? This can entail, for example, supplies of medicines, ingredients and raw materials for medicines, vaccines or medical goods (please specify what is affected, including brand names if appropriate); medical equipment and spare parts (please specify which ones); essential services such as electricity or clean water to individuals and to medical facilities; individuals’ access to health care (please specify how this is impeded); etc.
4. How much medical equipment in your country is currently operational? Could any shortage of equipment be attributed to the impact of unilateral sanctions? Please specify which equipment and how the sanctions are preventing their operation, and whether and how this problem is being addressed.
5. How effective are humanitarian exemptions for delivery of medicine, medical equipment, spare parts in the current unilateral sanctions context? Please provide details of your country’s perspective (whether a sanctioning or a targeted State).
6. How is over-compliance with unilateral sanctions affecting the right to health in your country? If possible, please give examples, mentioning the types of businesses involved (manufacturer, shipper, bank, insurer, etc.)

UN General Assembly Report: “Secondary sanctions, over-compliance and human rights” follow up

7. Has the threat or imposition of secondary sanctions or of civil or criminal penalties impeded trade in general or specific transactions in goods or services between your State and other states? If so, please describe. I would be most grateful for information on cases in which this has occurred, the consequences for human rights, and the parties subject to those consequences (individuals, populations, etc.).
8. Have you received any request for extradition of any national charged with circumvention of sanctions’ regimes in other states?
9. Have you participated in the domestic enforcement of unilateral sanctions imposed by another State (such as through arrests, extraditions, etc.)? What is the legal basis for such action, and how does it affect the rights of the individuals involved?
10. If you are an individual or are involved in an entity, have you (or has it) been the subject of secondary sanctions or of a civil or criminal process? Has it been affected by over-compliance with sanctions? What consequences have there been (personal, business, family, etc.) and how has this affected your (their) human rights?
11. What has been the experience of sanctioned individuals in your country who have sought de-listing? Has the administrative process been effective, inefficient, rapid, slow, etc.? Are they able to access justice in the sanctioning country or internationally, and, if so, what if any obstacles do they encounter in the judicial process?
12. Are individuals or groups in your country who are harmed directly or indirectly by unilateral sanctions, including secondary sanctions and over-compliance with sanctions, able to access justice in the sanctioning State or internationally? What if any impediments exist?
13. In what ways have secondary sanctions and over-compliance affected the sector in which you operate?
14. Has the delivery of humanitarian aid and functioning of humanitarian organizations been affected by secondary sanctions, over-compliance with secondary sanctions or faced civil and criminal charges due to their humanitarian activities? What are the main impediments for humanitarian activities due to over-compliance with unilateral sanctions?

How inputs will be used

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.