GNRD at OHCHR Workshop on Coercive Measures at UNOG gnrd.net/seemore.php?id=354 23 May 2014 – Geneva – the workshop organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the impact of the application of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights by the affected populations, particularly their socio-economic impact on women and children, was a follow up to a discussion held earlier in the year. Opening remarks were made by Ms. Vera Gowlland-Debbas, Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. She said that a lack of due process mechanisms in the application of coercive measures, both unilateral and multilateral, had led to confusion and numerous challenges in international and domestic courts. While coercive measures could be an important tool avoiding a resort to force, she said, they required regular monitoring to ensure they were implemented within the law. In his remarks, Mr. Craig Mokhiber, the Head of Development, Economic and Social Issues Branch at the OHCHR, said lessons needed to be learnt from the past about the need for more stringent accountability mechanisms. He said that International Humanitarian Law prohibits collective punishment and that coercive measures impacted all 3 pillars of the UN Declaration: for peace and stability, development and human rights. He underlined the right of all individuals to food, shelter, medical care and the necessary social services. Targeted sanctions, therefore, he said, should be proportional, of fixed duration and subject to adequate safeguards applied by an independent body. The debate was then opened to the floor, with the Iranian delegate speaking on behalf of the non-aligned member States. He called for the lifting of all unilateral coercive measures applied against any State, arguing that they endangered food security, adversely impacted the job market and disrupted basic services such as health and sanitation. Many other States and NGOs backed this view. The Global Network for Rights and Development and the Maarij foundation for peace and development also made a Statement arguing coercive measures regimes be re-assessed and that sanctions against Sudan be lifted. Afternoon sessions of the workshop debated how mechanisms might be strengthened to assess and mitigate the adverse impact of unilateral coercive measures and ensure accountability. Professor Obiora Okafor of Osgoode Law School, Toronto, said that there needed to be a reduction of the politicization in accountability mechanisms to ensure an independent review of the impact of coercive measures. The workshop also heard an emotional assessment of the impact of sanctions from Iraqi novelist and journalist, Ms. Haifa Zangana. She said sanctions had led to the collapse of the economy in Iraq and the deaths of half a million children. She said sanctions were a moral issue, not just a diplomatic question.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 18:26:07 +0000
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