The
sanctions against Venezuela have exacerbated the economic crisis
caused by the collapse of oil prices leading to serious shortages of
medicines and food. Alfred de Zayas, a UN Independent Expert for the
promotion of an international democratic and equitable order, told
Venezuela’s newspaper Últimas Noticias that “it is time” for
Venezuela to ask the International Criminal Court “for an
investigation into the crimes against humanity committed by the
United States for imposing sanctions against it.”
In 2000,
the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
published a study that described sanctions as a serious violation of
international law and human rights. In 2015, the Human Rights Council
in Geneva created the role of the Special Rapporteur on Unilateral
Coercive Measures. In his reports Idriss Jazairy, the Rapporteur, has
demonstrated the adverse impacts of sanctions and has negotiated with
governments so that sanctions are eliminated, as they are contrary to
the spirit and letter of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights. The General Assembly of the United Nations has
condemned the sanctions against Cuba and the “blockade” with 25
resolutions that, unfortunately, the US has ignored.
In my
opinion, as a professor of International Law and former Secretary of
the Human Rights Committee, sanctions that cause the death of
children due to malnutrition, lack of drinking water, or that cause
deaths due to lack of insulin, medicines against cancer and malaria,
or due to lack of medical equipment and technical material,
constitute a crime against humanity, especially because they are
intentional, sadistic, their objective being to create suffering.
The
sanctions against Venezuela have exacerbated the economic crisis
caused by the collapse of oil prices, leading to a serious scarcity
of medicines and food, other shortages, distribution delays, etc. As
a consequence Venezuelan children have died, as have adults and
elderly people. Keeping in mind that sanctions are not accidental but
planned and deliberate, this amounts to criminal liability, and the
situation must be brought to the attention of the General Assembly
with a view to adopting resolutions that clearly declare the
sanctions illegal and criminal.
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