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US sanctions violate rights of citizens from other states, including Russia - UN experts

They violate a wide range of human rights in China, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and other countries

GENEVA, March 5. /TASS/. The sanctions adopted in the US based on emergency declarations violate rights of citizens from other countries, including Russia, China and Cuba, Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, and Obiora C. Okafor, UN Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, said Thursday in Geneva.

"Emergencies declared by the United States often last years, and in some cases decades, and so do the sanctions they authorise," the experts said in a statement. "Instead of being true emergencies, they seem like excuses to impose sanctions indefinitely."

They explained that the US legislation gives president broad powers to introduce "sanctions that violate human rights." "The sanctions authorised by U.S. on the base of announced states of emergency violate a wide range of human rights in China, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and other countries around the world, including rights to freedom of movement, of association, to due process such as fair trial and the presumption of innocence, as well economic and social rights and the very right to life," Douhan and Okafor stressed.

The experts emphasized that some of the unilateral restrictions passed in the US violate the rights of people engaged in activities to particularly provide assistance to revival of Syria ravaged by the long-lasting conflict. Moreover, Washington "also imposes secondary sanctions against people who allegedly interact with sanctioned people and governments."

The UN experts called on the US to "fully and completely observe its obligations under the ICCPR to prevent any negative impact on the human rights of persons subject to sanctions authorised under the emergency declarations.".