HRC 57: SRI statement to the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures

Thank you, President.

Akãhatã makes this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative. We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s report and affirmations regarding the illegality of unilateral coercive measures, and their immediate and long-term impacts felt most acutely by marginalized groups.
 
As a direct consequence of the global neo-liberal economy, imperialism and colonialism, the countries most likely to be unilaterally sanctioned are in the global South with limited capacity to mitigate the human rights consequences of these measures.

Sanctioning States claim that sanctions aim to improve women’s and other marginalized people's lives and continue to dismiss the evidence that they deepen gender, race and class marginalization.

We note with concern that sanctioning States did not send any submissions to the report or share any data on the impact of their sanctions. Sanctioning states continue to dismiss this important mandate and skirt accountability for human rights violations in the States they sanction, including to the right to development.       
In addition to a comprehensive, transparent and impartial methodology for the monitoring and assessment of the impact of unilateral sanctions, this Council and Member States must condemn and repeal these coercive methods and institute reparations.   

Thank you.