For a long time, the United States has indiscriminately imposed unilateral sanctions on the pretext of so-called "foreign policy and national security" without the basis of international law and the authorization of the UN Security Council, grossly interfering in other countries’ internal affairs, creating obstacles for the people of the targeted countries to realize their basic human rights and aggravating the global humanitarian crisis.
The indiscriminate imposition of unilateral sanctions by the United States violates international law.
The United States government has imposed economic sanctions on many developing countries, affecting nearly half of the world’s population, seriously undermining the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the basic norms of international law.
The indiscriminate imposition of unilateral sanctions by the United States violates the principle of sovereign equality. The principle of sovereign equality is one of the main principles listed in the Charter of the United Nations, and it is the basic norm that countries should abide by in their foreign exchanges after World War II. Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations clearly stipulates that only the United Nations Security Council has the right to decide on relevant sanctions. Only after the UN Security Council has passed a resolution can a member state take a certain or a series of sanctions against a country. In the international community, the differences between countries due to their civilizations, development paths and models should be respected, and the frictions generated should also be resolved with an equal dialogue attitude. However, the United States often imposes unilateral sanctions on other countries with a condescending attitude. As confirmed in its 2021 Sanctions Assessment Report, "sanctions have become the preferred tool for the United States to deal with a series of threats to national security, foreign policy and economy".
The indiscriminate imposition of unilateral sanctions by the United States violates the general principles of international law jurisdiction. Generally speaking, a country’s laws are only effective within its own territory, and it has no right to apply them in other countries or exercise jurisdiction over related people or actions. In international law, extraterritorial jurisdiction can only be implemented if there is a "true and sufficient connection" between a country and the object of application. However, the "long-arm jurisdiction" of the United States only needs to meet the "minimum contact". As long as the relevant personnel or entities have weak contact with the United States, they can carry out "long-arm jurisdiction" and then implement unilateral sanctions. For example, in 1996, the United States threw out the so-called "D’Amato Act", which allowed it to exercise "long-arm jurisdiction" over third-country entities and individuals trading with Iran, causing huge economic losses to Iran.
The abuse of unilateral sanctions by the United States is a consistent continuation of its hegemonic hegemony.
Maintaining its hegemonic position is the main purpose of the United States’ indiscriminate unilateral sanctions. After two world wars and the cold war, the United States became the world’s number one power. In order to maintain its hegemonic position, the United States has launched the Gulf War and the Kosovo War since the 1990s. After the "9.11" incident, the United States became even more unscrupulous, waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and intervening militarily in Libya and Syria. All these wars have caused a large number of casualties among local civilians and huge consumption of resources, which has caused widespread complaints from the international community.
In addition to military means, the United States also imposes economic, diplomatic and other non-military sanctions. Sanctions bills, such as the Global magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and the Act of Countering American Enemies with Sanctions, and a series of administrative orders have been introduced one after another. According to the 2021 Sanctions Assessment Report, by the end of fiscal year 2021, the United States has imposed more than 9,400 sanctions. From 2000 to 2021, US foreign sanctions increased by 933%.
The United States abuses unilateral sanctions to violate the human rights of other countries.
First, it has seriously hindered the realization of the right to subsistence. Survival is the basis of enjoying all human rights, and it is the first right. The indiscriminate application of unilateral sanctions by the United States has led to difficulties in the economic development of the sanctioned countries, and the ability of the government and people to cope with various risks has decreased, making it easy for them to fall into a survival dilemma due to natural and man-made disasters. The long-term illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Syria have seriously aggravated the local economic and livelihood crisis. After the severe earthquake in Syria in February this year, due to the extreme lack of heavy equipment and search and rescue tools, many rescue operations can only rely on bare hands to dig in the ruins. On August 30, 2021, American troops withdrew from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, ending the 20-year war in Afghanistan. Just as Afghanistan urgently needs funds for peaceful reconstruction, the United States not only failed to fulfill its due obligations, but frozen billions of dollars of state assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan, causing millions of Afghans to struggle on the brink of death and nearly 20 million people to face serious food shortages.
Second, it has serious consequences for the realization of the right to development. The right to development is an inalienable human right, which has been solemnly affirmed in many important international human rights instruments such as the Declaration on the Right to Development, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The abuse of unilateral sanctions by the United States has had an immeasurable impact on the development of the sanctioned countries and their nationals. According to statistics, from August 1990 to May 2003, U.S. sanctions caused a loss of 150 billion U.S. dollars in Iraq’s oil revenue, resulting in the per capita annual income in Iraq today not reaching the 1990 level. Unilateral sanctions also have an immeasurable impact on people’s personal development. Take Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, Iran and other countries as examples. U.S. sanctions have prevented teleconferences and data sharing in these countries and other places. People can’t attend online seminars to get information, education and training, and doctors can’t access medical databases.
Third, it has a negative impact on the realization of the right to health. The right to health is a right that "everyone has the right to enjoy" clearly stipulated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Through economic and trade blockade, the United States makes it difficult for sanctioned countries to obtain corresponding medical resources. During the COVID-19 epidemic, due to the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States, the protection of people’s right to health in the sanctioned countries was seriously affected. In 2020, Iran claimed that it had tried to buy vaccines in accordance with WHO’s COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Plan three times, but all of them could not pay due to US sanctions and restrictions. Because the United States prohibits third countries from selling ventilators to Cuba, Cuba can’t buy ventilators needed to rescue patients in danger of pneumonia.
The United States wantonly waved the sanctions stick, which seriously violated the United Nations Charter, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international laws, and seriously trampled on the basic rights of the people in the targeted countries. American hegemonic behavior has become a destroyer of global peace and development and a stumbling block to human rights progress. In March this year, Alena Du Han, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights, pointed out that the unilateral coercive measures of the United States violated the basic human rights of individuals and entities, such as the right to work and the right to freedom of movement.
The international community appeals that the United States should earnestly abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international law, stop the indiscriminate application of illegal unilateral sanctions, stop harming the efforts of countries concerned to mobilize resources, develop the economy and improve people’s livelihood, and respect the rights to survival, development and health of people in other countries.
(The author is the director of the National Research Center of the Institute of Human Rights of Southwest University of Political Science and Law)