RTTue, 24 Mar 2020 15:43 UTC
© EuronewsUNHRC Commissioner Michelle Bachelet
Sanctions should be revisited or suspended altogether during the Covid-19 crisis, the UN human rights chief has said, arguing that they might cause healthcare in affected countries to collapse, and harm the situation globally.
Any international and unilateral sanctions should be "urgently re-evaluated," UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet
said Tuesday.
"It is vital to avoid the collapse of any country's medical system - given the explosive impact that will have on death, suffering and wider contagion. In a context of global pandemic, impeding medical efforts in one country heightens the risk for all of us."
The sanctions have already damaged Iran's ability to procure crucial equipment, including respirators and protective suits needed to fight the deadly disease. Apart from the scale of the outbreak in the country, the shortages might be behind the high death toll among its healthcare workers.
The standing "variety of sanctions" against nations such as Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe could impede their medical efforts as well, Bachelet added.
"The majority of these states have frail or weak health systems. Progress in upholding human rights is essential to improve those systems - but obstacles to the import of vital medical supplies, including over-compliance with sanctions by banks, will create long-lasting harm to vulnerable communities."
The coronavirus pandemic has already resulted in well over 16,000 deaths, while the total number of cases registered worldwide is rapidly approaching the 400,000 mark.
Iran, which remains under numerous US-imposed sanctions, is among the worst-affected nations with over 23,000 confirmed cases and nearly 2,000 deaths.
Comment: AOC, Sanders, et.al. nix sanctions during epidemic
Nine members of Congress have signed on to a letter asking the Trump administration to suspend U.S. sanctions on Iran amid the COVID-19 crisis. The letter, which was sent to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin:
"Rather than continue to pile on sanctions in the Iranian people's hour of need, we urge you to substantially suspend sanctions on Iran in a humanitarian gesture to the Iranian people to better enable them to fight the virus, it reads. Sanctions relief should encompass major sectors of the Iranian economy, including those impacting civilian industries, Iran's banking sector and exports of oil, and should last for at least as long as health experts believe the crisis will continue. Failure to do so risks inhibiting the delivery of key humanitarian goods, and putting the Iranian people into further health and economic peril."
It was signed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA), Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA).
Activists have launched a "80 Hours for 80 Million Lives" campaign, which calls on individuals to collectively make 80 hours of calls to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and demand an end to the sanctions. They've also scheduled a "Twitter storm" for this afternoon using the hashtag #EndCOVIDSanctions.
Narges Bajoghli, an assistant professor of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University, and Mahsa Rouhi, a research fellow at the Nonproliferation and Nuclear Policy program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, detail the the horrific reality in todays New York Times:
"The Trump administration claims that its sanctions do not hinder medicine and humanitarian trade. But since the sanctions prevent international financial transactions and shipping, any trade, including that of medicines and medical equipment, is almost impossible. Several companies that supply the medical equipment required to fight coronavirus have stopped shipping to Iran because their banks refuse to handle the transactions.
"The Trump administration's unwillingness to ease restrictions when Iran faces this debilitating crisis will severely hobble efforts at engagement for years to come and stain the reputation of the United States as a global leader."
Times like these seem to bring out the best and worst in people. Is it more than a choice?
Comment: AOC, Sanders, et.al. nix sanctions during epidemic Times like these seem to bring out the best and worst in people. Is it more than a choice?