Sundaymail Editor
Sunday Mail Reporter
ILLEGAL sanctions such as those imposed on Zimbabwe by the West hold back development and punish innocent civilians in affected countries, an independent panel of experts appointed by the United Nations (UN) has said.
Submissions by the global body once again put paid to claims by the West that sanctions against Zimbabwe were targeted and did not harm ordinary people.
According to the experts, many people around the world were being denied the right to development at both country and personal level because of the unilateral coercive measures.
The experts urged the West and other countries that impose unilateral sanctions to withdraw or at least minimise the measures to guarantee that the rule of law and human rights, including the right to development, were not affected.
“The precautionary principle should be applied by States when unilateral sanctions are taken to avoid any negative humanitarian impact on the whole scope of human rights, including the right to development,” the experts said. The punishment of innocent civilians must end.
“The General Assembly has declared the right to development to be an inalienable human right, and it is recognised as such by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Arab Charter on Human Rights and a range of multilateral human rights declarations.”
The experts said extraterritorial application of sanctions impact negatively on every individual or company in targeted societies.
“Sanctions hold countries back from development, they hold back people as well, and in a globalising world, that hurts everyone,” the experts said.
“Sanctions make it harder for entire populations to stay healthy and hamper the transportation of goods needed for economic development, result in the waste of natural resources, undermine environmental sustainability and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Activities essential to every country’s development suffer when unilateral sanctions are imposed.”
The experts said people in targeted countries such as Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria and Iran sink into poverty because they cannot get essential services that include electricity, housing, water and fuel.
“When US sanctions block teleconferencing and data services in these countries and elsewhere, people are cut off from webinars and online meetings for information, exchanges, education and training, and doctors cannot consult medical data bases,” said the experts.
The panel of experts comprised Ms Alena Douhan, Mr Obiora Okafor, Mr Livingstone Sewanyana and Ms Malang Mofokeng.
For two decades, Zimbabwe has been under illegal economic sanctions that were imposed by Western nations outraged by the country’s decision to redress land imbalances caused by colonisation.
Because of the sanctions, Zimbabwe could not access assistance to fight the Covid-19 pandemic like other African countries.
The UN experts also expressed concern about the United Kingdom government’s plan to ban all prosecutions, impede investigations, and preclude victims’ civil claims in connection with “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland, which would effectively institute a de-facto amnesty and blanket impunity for the grave human rights violations committed during that period.
The proposal, entitled “Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland’s Past”, was announced in a statement by the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland before Parliament In July.
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