Effects of US sanctions on nations, necessity for synergy of states to defend human rights

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Political analyst Alireza Forghani, referred to Iran’s target of naming a week as “American Human Rights Week” and the need to explain the dimensions of American crimes against the rights of nations, adding: The United States, under the title of Wilson School, raised slogans for the expansion of democracy and the rejection of war, and from that perspective pursued a policy of balancing power in the world.

Saying that sanctions are a modern, two-dimensional tool for the United States that, while rejecting war, can bring them the benefits of war said: Sanctions are completely contrary to the provisions of Universal Declaration of Human Rights that they designed and the United States in its policies towards countries has violated all the provisions of that Declaration.

Explaining the contradictions between US foreign policy and the clauses of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international affairs analyst continued: The United States annually evaluates 48 countries on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in fact monitors all countries every four years. Why instances of human rights violations are not seen and investigated in countries that have been sanctioned by the United States?

Forghani added: According to the UN Charter, one of the goals of that organization is international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights. In this document, governments, the United Nations and its relevant bodies are required to take steps to improve living standards, the right to employment, the development of economic and social issues, public health and respect for and observance of human rights.

Emphasizing that US sanctions are contrary to treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Geneva Conventions on Human Rights, he said: Even very limited sanctions regimes operate against the general principles of human rights.

The analyst of international affairs while saying that economic sanctions are certainly a violation of human rights, continued: The detrimental effects of sanctions on the rights of the Iraqi people during Saddam’s time have been widely discussed, and numerous reports by UN agencies, NGOs and independent groups have explicitly identified Iraqi civilians as the primary victims of the sanctions and have considered the role of sanctions in gross human rights abuses in Iraq as undeniable.

He added: Numerous studies regarding sanctions on Burma, Haiti, Afghanistan, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela show that the sanctions have had a very detrimental effect on the rights of the people of those countries.

Referring to the consequences of US sanctions against some countries, Forghani stressed: Some countries that are allies of the United States have never been reprimanded, even though they have openly violated the basic principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; therefore, regardless of the fact that the basis for imposing sanctions is oppressive, no basis and index is being used in imposing them.

Stressing the effects of US sanctions on the economies of developing countries such as Iran and some other countries, including Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and challenging people’s rights in those countries, the international affairs analyst said: The most important part of the US sanctions against those countries is aimed at creating monetary sanctions.

Forghani explained that those restrictions target production, followed by unemployment, inflation, spread of poverty, food shortages, problems in providing medicine and public health, corruption, addiction, declining education, migration, and a wide range of economic challenges. Socialization is taking place in countries, and this is the deadliest blow that the United States is inflicting on the sanctioned countries, an issue that is completely contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which they claim and ratify, and strike at all the pillars of the rights of nations.

Referring to a detailed report by Human Rights Watch on the negative impact of US sanctions on the health of Iranians, he stressed that if the situation does not change, the health of millions of Iranians will be threatened: According to this international organization, extended US sanctions has made drug imports to Iran difficult and has directly affected the purchasing power of households and has played a role in inflation.

Referring to the remarks of a member of the European Parliament who said that the United States has already imposed sanctions on 38 countries in the world, the international affairs analyst explained the consequences of those sanctions in some countries, emphasizing that application of those sanctions is economic terrorism and violation. Given the scale and multiplicity of sanctions, as well as the countries that have been sanctioned, those countries need to work together to counter those pressures.

He added: Many countries have been justified in this regard and want to take practical action. In fact, sanctions have made it a necessity.

Forghani said: Together, the sanctioned countries can have all the dimensions of a dynamic economy in terms of monetary and financial issues, markets and supply of raw materials and transfer of technology.





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