MINSK, 17 June (BelTA) - Belarus calls for a complete, unconditional, and irreversible end to the criminal practice of using unilateral coercive measures, Pavel Yevseyenko, Belarus’ Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, said at a meeting of the UN General Assembly on 16 June, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The UN General Assembly has repeatedly expressed deep concern that, despite the recommendations adopted on this issue by the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the Human Rights Commission, and participants in recent major UN conferences, and contrary to general international law and the charter, unilateral coercive measures continue to be imposed and applied with all the negative consequences they may entail. The consequences for social and humanitarian activities and the social and economic development of countries, including extraterritorial consequences, create additional obstacles to the full realization of all human rights by peoples and individuals under the jurisdiction of the sanctioning states,” the Belarusian diplomat emphasized.
He went on saying: “In fact, regardless of how unilateral coercive measures are named and justified, they directly or indirectly affect all residents of the countries in which such measures are introduced. At the same time, unilateral coercive measures disproportionately affect people in vulnerable situations, with particular consequences for women, children, including adolescents, the elderly, and people with disabilities.”
“Secondary unilateral sanctions, which are imposed to ensure the effectiveness of primary coercive measures, have an equally or even more destructive impact,” Pavel Yevseyenko said.
Pavel Yevseyenko
“Issues of unclear grounds for imposing secondary unilateral sanctions, deliberately complex requirements for reviewing the unilateral coercive measures that have already been imposed, limited access to justice in the context of secondary sanctions, as well as the phenomenon of ‘creeping’ extraterritorial jurisdiction, where the grounds for extraterritorial application are deliberately interpreted in such a way as to broaden the scope of primary sanctions and effectively guarantee their excessive application demonstrate the appalling picture of the deliberately anti-human nature of unilateral coercive measures,” the deputy permanent representative of the UN said.
The diplomat pointed out that all of the above was not just some lengthy reasoning, but quotes from reports prepared by UN bodies and resolutions adopted by UN member states. All of this is carefully documented and real examples of unilateral sanctions that are appalling in their inhumanity.
Pavel Yevseyenko also noted: “We will leave the assessment of those states and officials who, being well aware of all the consequences of unilateral coercive measures, to everyone who has heard or read this speech. Our approach to restrictive coercive measures has long been known—we call for a complete, unconditional, and irreversible end to the criminal practice of using unilateral coercive measures.”
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