Geneva - Sana
At the initiative of Syria, a group of United Nations member states called on the Human Rights Council of the international organization to put pressure on states that resort to imposing unilateral coercive measures and compel them to respond to the international calls launched by the United Nations Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to lift these illegal measures in order to empower the target countries From facing the Coronavirus (Covid 19) pandemic and its economic and social consequences.
In a statement made by Ambassador Husam Eddin Alla, the permanent representative of Syria to the United Nations in Geneva, before the Human Rights Council, on behalf of the group of countries that includes, besides Syria, the Russian Federation, China, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Cambodia, the DPRK, Myanmar, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe, he warned against the violation of unilateral coercive measures and financial restrictions. And the economic and economic rights of all the basic rights of the citizens of the targeted countries, including their right to development, and its multiplying negative effects in light of the spread of the Covid 19 pandemic and its contribution to undermining the effectiveness of service and economic sectors in the target countries and impeding the import of their basic life-saving needs.
The statement emphasized that the restrictions on the provision of humanitarian needs and basic commodities such as medical equipment and food “violate international law and human rights-related covenants that prohibit them from being subjected to any kind of unilateral coercive measures or penalties.”
The statement denounced the reluctance of the concerned countries to respond to international calls to strengthen solidarity to confront the pandemic and its continuation of coercive measures that harm the efforts of economic and social development in the targeted developing countries and their ability to confront the pandemic and protect their citizens and limit the ability of international organizations to provide humanitarian assistance to these countries.
The ambassador described the American and European allegations about the existence of humanitarian exemptions from the sanctions as being "no more than a pretext to cover up the unethical measures that target the living conditions of the Syrians and have negative effects on the work of humanitarian organizations and agencies operating inside Syria."
In the conclusion of the statement, Ambassador Alla called on the Human Rights Council to hold the countries concerned with imposing unilateral coercive measures the moral and legal responsibility resulting from their results.
In a statement made in the name of Syria, Ambassador Ala criticized the unprecedented American expansion by resorting to unilateral coercive measures and the increase in the number of those targeted, stressing that the European Union’s decision to extend the deadline for unilateral coercive measures against Syria for an additional year during the Corona crisis and the US resort during the same period to issue the so-called The Caesar Act moved the positions of these states parties to the war on Syria to a new phase of economic terrorism aimed at obstructing the efforts of the Syrian government in reconstruction, restoring stability, and creating conditions for the return of forcibly displaced Syrians inside and outside Syria.