RES/6/7 Human rights and unilateral coercive measures

Human Rights Council

Resolution 6/7. Human rights and unilateral coercive measures

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling the purposes and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Recalling also its decision 4/103 of 30 March 2007 and taking note of General

Assembly resolution 61/170 of 19 December 2006, as well as of the report of the

Secretary-General on this issue (A/HRC/6/2),

Stressing that unilateral coercive measures and legislation are contrary to

international law, international humanitarian law, the Charter of the United Nations

and the norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States,

Recognizing the universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated

character of all human rights and, in this regard, reaffirming the right to development

as a universal and inalienable right and an integral part of all human rights,

Expressing its concern about the negative impact of unilateral coercive

measures in the field of human rights, development, international relations, trade,

investment and cooperation,

Recalling the Final Document of the Fourteenth Conference of Heads of State

or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, held in September 2006 in Havana, in

which they agreed to oppose and condemn these measures or laws and their continued

application, persevere with efforts to effectively reverse them and urge other States to

do likewise as called for by the General Assembly and other United Nations organs,

and to request States applying these measures or laws to revoke them fully and

immediately,

Recalling also that the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna

from 14 to 25 June 1993, called upon States to refrain from any unilateral measure not

in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that creates

obstacles to trade relations among States and impedes the full realization of all human

rights, and also severely threatens the freedom of trade,

Deeply concerned that, despite the resolutions adopted on this issue by the

General Assembly, the former Commission on Human Rights and United Nations

conferences held in the 1990s and their five-year reviews, and contrary to norms of

international law and the Charter of the United Nations, unilateral coercive measures

continue to be promulgated, implemented and enforced, inter alia through resorting to

war and militarism, with all their negative implications for the social-humanitarian

activities and economic and social development of developing countries, including

their extraterritorial effects, thereby creating additional obstacles to the full enjoyment

of all human rights by peoples and individuals under the jurisdiction of other States,

Reaffirming that unilateral coercive measures are a major obstacle to the

implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development,

Recalling article 1, paragraph 2, common to the International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights which provides, inter alia, that in no case may a people be deprived of

its own means of subsistence,

1. Urges all States to stop adopting or implementing unilateral coercive

measures not in accordance with international law, international humanitarian law, the

Charter of the United Nations and the norms and principles governing peaceful

relations among States, in particular those of a coercive nature with extraterritorial

effects, which create obstacles to trade relations among States, thus impeding the full

realization of the rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and

other international human rights instruments, in particular the right of individuals and

peoples to development;

2. Strongly objects to the extraterritorial nature of those measures which,

in addition, threaten the sovereignty of States and, in this context, calls upon all

Member States neither to recognize these measures nor apply them, as well as to take

effective administrative or legislative measures, as appropriate, to counteract the

extraterritorial application or effects of unilateral coercive measures;

3. Condemns the continued unilateral application and enforcement by

certain Powers of such measures as tools of political or economic pressure against any

country, particularly against developing countries, with a view to preventing these

countries from exercising their right to decide, of their own free will, their own

political, economic and social systems;

4. Reiterates its call upon Member States that have initiated such

measures to abide by the principles of international law, the Charter of the United

Nations, the declarations of the United Nations and world conferences and relevant

resolutions and to commit themselves to their obligations and responsibilities arising

from the international human rights instruments to which they are parties by putting

an immediate end to such measures;

5. Reaffirms, in this context, the right of all peoples to self-determination,

by virtue of which they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their

economic, social and cultural development;

6. Recalls that, according to the Declaration on Principles of International

Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with

the Charter of the United Nations, contained in the annex to General Assembly

resolution 2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970, and according to the relevant principles

and provisions contained in the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States

proclaimed by the Assembly in its resolution 3281 (XXIX) of 12 December 1974, in

particular article 32, no State may use or encourage the use of economic, political or

any other type of measures to coerce another State in order to obtain from it the

subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights and to secure from it advantages

of any kind;

7. Reaffirms that essential goods such as food and medicines should not

be used as tools for political coercion and that under no circumstances should people

be deprived of their own means of subsistence and development;

8. Underlines that unilateral coercive measures are one of the major

obstacles to the implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development and,

in this regard, calls upon all States to avoid the unilateral imposition of economic

coercive measures and the extraterritorial application of domestic laws which run

counter to the principles of free trade and hamper the development of developing

countries, as recognized by the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on the Right to

Development in its report on its second session (E/CN.4/1998/29);

9. Rejects all attempts to introduce unilateral coercive measures, as well

as the increasing trend in this direction, including through the enactment of laws with

extraterritorial application which are not in conformity with international law;

10. Recognizes that the Declaration of Principles adopted at the first phase

of the World Summit on the Information Society, held in Geneva in December 2003,

strongly urged States to avoid and refrain from any unilateral measure in building the

Information Society;

11. Invites all special rapporteurs and existing thematic mechanisms of the

Council in the field of economic, social and cultural rights to pay due attention, within

the scope of their respective mandates, to the negative impact and consequences of

unilateral coercive measures;

12. Decides to give due consideration to the negative impact of unilateral

coercive measures in its task concerning the implementation of the right to

development;

13. Requests:

(a) The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in

discharging her functions in relation to the promotion and protection of human rights,

to pay due attention and give urgent consideration to the present resolution;

(b) The Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention

of all Member States and to seek their views and information on the implications and

negative effects of unilateral coercive measures on their populations, and to submit a

report thereon to the Council as appropriate, in accordance with its annual programme

of work;

14. Decides to examine this question, on a priority basis, as appropriate, in

accordance with its annual programme of work under the same agenda item.

21st meeting 28 September 2007

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 34 to 11, with 2 abstentions

In favour: Angola, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Djibouti,

Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Malaysia,

Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Qatar,

Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uruguay, Zambia.

Against: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands,

Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland.

Abstaining: Republic of Korea, Ukraine.]

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