UN Human Rights Treaties

UNITED NATIONS
E
Economic and Social
Council
Distr.
LIMITED
E/CN.4/2001/L.16
11 April 2001
Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-seventh session
Agenda item 10
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
South Africa (on behalf of States Members of the Non-Aligned
Movement and China): draft resolution
2001/… Human rights and unilateral coercive measures
The Commission on Human Rights,
Recalling the purposes and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Reaffirming the pertinent principles and provisions contained in the Charter of Economic
Rights and Duties of States proclaimed by the General Assembly in its resolution 3281 (XXIX)
of 12 December 1974, in particular article 32, which declares that no State may use or encourage
the use of economic, political or any type of measures to coerce another State in order to obtain
from it the subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights,
Recalling its resolution 2000/11 of 17 April and noting General Assembly
resolution 55/110 of 4 December 2000,
Taking note with interest of the report of the Secretary-General on human rights and
unilateral coercive measures (E/CN.4/2001/50),
Recognizing and reiterating the universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated
character of all human rights and, in this regard, reaffirming the right to development as an
integral part of all human rights,
GE.01-12660 (E)
E/CN.4/2001/L.16
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Expressing its concern about the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures in the
field of international relations, trade, investment and cooperation,
Recalling that the World Conference on Human Rights called upon States to refrain from
any unilateral measure not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the
United Nations that creates obstacles to trade relations among States and impedes the full
realization of all human rights, and also severely threatens the freedom of trade;
Deeply concerned that, despite the recommendations adopted on this issue by the
General Assembly and United Nations conferences and contrary to general international law and
the Charter of the United Nations, unilateral coercive measures continue to be promulgated and
implemented with all their negative implications for the social-humanitarian activities and
economic and social development of developing countries, including their extraterritorial effects,
thereby creating additional obstacles to the full enjoyment of all human rights by peoples and
individuals under the jurisdiction of other States,
Reaffirming that unilateral coercive measures are one of the obstacles to the
implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development,
1. Urges all States to refrain from adopting or implementing unilateral measures not
in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations, in particular those of
a coercive nature with extraterritorial effects, which create obstacles to trade relations among
States, thus impeding the full realization of the rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and other international human rights instruments, in particular the right of
individuals and peoples to development;
2. Calls upon all Member States neither to recognize these measures nor apply them,
as well as to consider adopting administrative or legislative measures, when necessary, to
counteract the extraterritorial application or effects of unilateral coercive measures;
3. Rejects the application of such measures as tools for political or economic
pressure against any country, particularly against developing countries, because of their negative
effects on the realization of all human rights of vast sectors of their populations, inter alia,
children, women, the elderly, disabled and ill people;
4. Calls upon Member States that have initiated such measures to abide by the
principles of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, the declarations of the
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United Nations and world conferences and relevant resolutions and to commit themselves to
their obligations and responsibilities arising from the international human rights instruments to
which they are parties by revoking such measures at the earliest possible time;
5. Reaffirms, in this context, the right of all peoples to self-determination, by virtue
of which they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and
cultural development;
6. Also reaffirms that essential goods such as food and medicines should not be used
as tools for political coercion and that under no circumstances should people be deprived of their
own means of subsistence and development;
7. Underlines that unilateral coercive measures are one of the major obstacles to the
implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development and, in this regard, calls upon all
States to avoid the unilateral imposition of economic coercive measures and the extraterritorial
application of domestic laws which run counter to the principles of free trade and hamper the
development of developing countries, as recognized by the Intergovernmental Group of Experts
on the Right to Development in its report (E/CN.4/1998/29);
8. Invites the open-ended working group established to monitor and review progress
made in the promotion and implementation of the right to development, which will meet after the
fifty-seventh session of the Commission on Human Rights, to give due consideration to the
question of human rights and the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures;
9. Invites all special rapporteurs and existing thematic mechanisms of the
Commission in the field of economic, social and cultural rights to pay due attention, within the
scope of their respective mandates, to the negative impact and consequences of unilateral
coercive measures;
10. Decides to give due consideration to the negative impact of unilateral coercive
measures in its task concerning the implementation of the right to development;
11. Requests:
(a) The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in discharging her
functions in relation to the promotion, realization and protection of the right to development, to
pay due attention and give urgent consideration to the present resolution;
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(b) The Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention of all
Member States and to seek their views and information on the implications and negative effects
of unilateral coercive measures on their populations, and to submit a report thereon to the
Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-eighth session;
12. Decides to examine this question, on a priority basis, at its fifty-eighth session
under the same agenda item.
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