Addressing the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council in the Swiss capital of Geneva on Monday, the head of the Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights Ali Bagheri-Kani rejected the US claims that its sanctions do not cover medicine. “Although the US claims that basic needs such as pharmaceutical and commodities are not sanctioned, access to the most basic human needs are blocked due to the sanctions imposed on international financial transactions and banking.”
He said that the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and its allies on Iran are the “most recent grave and systematic violation of human rights”, adding, “The Iranian nation is the major victim of such a violation.”
“The United States has created an international sanction regime which amounts to a systematic violation of human rights at an international level.”
“This new policy in practice has prevented the access to medicine and basic needs by those who are in need,” he said, adding, “Those who impose sanctions on medicine are not only violators of human rights but also murderers of human beings. And those who impose sanctions on life-saving medicine are not eligible to be a member of the Human Rights Council.”
“To preserve their political and economic benefits, many states that may not approve such sanctions, not only have failed to oppose such inhuman treatment but also supported these policies by succumbing to them," Bagheri-Kani added.
“These acts are not only the collective punishment of a nation but also a modern method of violation of human rights, which should be put high on the agenda of the Human Rights Council.”
Washington, under the Trump administration, returned severe sanctions against Iran after withdrawing from the JCPOA in May 2018. The sanctions are part of what the US calls maximum pressure policy to illegally force into a new round of negotiations. Tehran has highlighted that there will be no such bilateral talks, but if the US lifts sanctions, it can resume talks with Iran in the 5+1 framework.
MNA/ 4862243
Your Comment