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UN Human Rights Council condemns unilateral sanctions as means of pressure

The Council "urges all States to stop adopting, maintaining or implementing unilateral coercive measures"

GENEVA, March 24. /TASS/. During its 46th session in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) called upon states to stop imposing unilateral sanctions and condemned their use as a means of political and economic pressure.

A resolution on the issue was approved by a majority of votes on Tuesday. A total of 30 countries, including Russia and China, supported the document, while 15 nations, among them European Union members, the United Kingdom and Ukraine, voted against. Two nations - Armenia and Mexico - abstained.

According to the resolution, the UN Human Rights Council "urges all States to stop adopting, maintaining or implementing unilateral coercive measures <…> in particular those of a coercive nature with extraterritorial effects." It says that such measures must be cancelled, because they are "not in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States."

The council "strongly condemns" application and enforcement of unilateral sanctions by "certain powers" as "tools of pressure, including political and economic pressure." It also calls upon states to immediately cancel such measures.

The HRC also stressed the need to create an "impartial and independent mechanism" within the UN system for the victims of unilateral coercive measures to address the issues of remedies and redress, with a view to promoting accountability and reparations.

The 47-member Human Rights Council is currently addressing various problems of defending rights, including the situation in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Kongo. Russia joined the council after a three-year break, after being re-elected in October 2020.

On Monday, the foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states approved new sanctions against 11 individuals and four companies they accuse of human rights violations, including from Russia and China.

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