Human rights and unilateral coercive measures, G.A. res. 51/103, 51 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 249, U.N. Doc. A/51/49 (Vol. I) (1996).



                      
 
      The General Assembly,
 
      Recalling the purposes and 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 by its resolution 3281 (XXIX) of 12 December 1974, in particular
article 32 thereof, in which it is declared 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,
 
      Taking note of the report submitted by the Secretary-General pursuant to
Commission on Human Rights resolution 1995/45 of 3 March 1995,
 
      Recognizing 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,
 
      Recalling that the World Conference on Human Rights called upon States
to refrain from any unilateral coercive 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,
 
      Bearing in mind all the references to this question in the Copenhagen
Declaration on Social Development, adopted by the World Summit for Social
Development on 12 March 1995, the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for
Action, adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women on 15 September 1995,
and the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements and the Habitat Agenda,
adopted by the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) on
14 June 1996,
 
      Deeply concerned that, despite the recommendations adopted on this issue
by the General Assembly and recent major 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 extraterritorial effects, inter alia, on the economic and social
development of targeted countries and peoples and individuals under the
jurisdiction of other States,
 
      1.    Urges all States to refrain from adopting or implementing any
unilateral measure not in accordance with international law and the Charter of
the United Nations, in particular those of a coercive nature with all their
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.    Rejects unilateral coercive measures with all their
extraterritorial effects as tools for political or economic pressure against
any country, in particular against developing countries, because of their
negative effects on the realization of all the human rights of vast sectors of
their populations, in particular children, women and the elderly;
 
      3.    Calls upon Member States that have initiated such measures to
commit themselves to their obligations and responsibilities arising from the
international human rights instruments to which they are party by revoking
such measures at the earliest time possible;
 
      4.    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;
 
      5.    Urges the Commission on Human Rights to take fully into account
the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures, including enactment of
national laws and their extraterritorial application, in its task concerning
the implementation of the right to development;
 
      6.    Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in
discharging his functions relating to the promotion, realization and
protection of the right to development, to give urgent consideration to the
present resolution in his annual report to the General Assembly;
 
      7.    Requests Member States to notify the Secretary-General about the
implications and negative effects of such measures on their populations in the
various aspects referred to in the present resolution;
 
      8.    Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly
at its fifty-second session on the implementation of the present resolution;
 
      9.    Decides to examine this question, on a priority basis, at its
fifty- second session under the sub-item entitled "Human rights questions,
including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of
human rights and fundamental freedoms".
      
v

 

 



Home || Treaties || Search || Links