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United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Human Rights and
Unilateral Coercive Measures
Commission on Human Rights
resolution 1999/21
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 other 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 1998/11 of 9 April 1998 and
noting General assembly resolution 53/141 of 9 December 1998,
Taking note with interest of the report of the
Secretary-General on human rights and unilateral coercive measures (E/CN.R/1999/44 and
Add.1-2),
Recognising 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,
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 realisation of all human rights,
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 of developing countries, including their
extraterritorial effects, thereby creating additional obstacles to the full enjoyment of
all human rights by peoples and individuals,
- 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 realisation 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;
- 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 realisation of all human rights of
vast sectors of their populations, inter alia children, women, the elderly, disabled and
ill people;
- 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;
- 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;
- 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
recognised by the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on the Right to Development in its
most recent report;
- Invites the new open-ended working group on the right to
development, which will meet after the fifty-fifth 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;
- Invites all Special Reporters 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;
- Decides to give due consideration to the negative impact of
unilateral coercive measures in its task concerning the implementation of the right to
development;
- Requests:
- The Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the
attention of all Member States and 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-sixth session;
- The Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the
attention of all Member States and 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-sixth session;
- Decides to examine this question, on a priority basis, at
its fifty-sixth session under the same agenda item.
52nd meeting
23 April 1999
[Adopted by 37 votes to 10, with 6 abstentions. See chap. X]
    
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