US’ illegal unilateral sanctions on Iran violate the human rights of the Iranian people

 US’ illegal unilateral sanctions on Iran violate the human rights of the Iranian people

 

Top United Nations Experts Wrote A Letter To The United States Government.

They emphasize that the US’ illegal unilateral sanctions on Iran violate the human rights of the Iranian people and call for them to “be eased or lifted completely.”

 

Top United Nations experts have criticized US government sanctions for violating the human rights of Iranians.

 

They made it clear that the unilateral coercive measures that the United States has imposed on Iran violate international law.

 

A group of UN special rapporteurs stressed that these sanctions have a “negative impact” on “the enjoyment of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the Islamic Republic of Iran and on the right to health and the right to life.”

 

Violating Iranians’ right to life is a roundabout diplomatic way of saying that US sanctions are killing them.

 

The UN experts sent a formal letter to the United States condemning its sanctions and requesting that it investigate and remove them.

 

The special rapporteurs expressed their “serious concerns about the U.S. sanctions as a significant contributing factor in Iran’s environmental degradation, which negatively affects Iranian people’s rights to a healthy and sustainable environment, to health, to life, and to an adequate standard of living.”

 

They added that “U.S. sanctions impede the enjoyment of the right to education” in Iran.

 

Washington constantly accuses Tehran of violating its people’s rights. The US government also publicly claims to support the struggle against climate change and pollution, and on paper it recognizes that people have the right to a clean environment.

 

But Washington’s “sanctions against Iran contradict what seems to be a clear US position on this matter,” the UN experts said.

 

“It is time for sanctions that impede Iran’s ability to improve the environment and reduce the ill effects on health and life, to be eased or lifted completely so that Iranians can access their right to a clean environment, the right to health and to life, and other rights associated with favourable environmental conditions,” they insisted.

 

The UN special rapporteurs noted:

 

Since 1979, the United States of America has imposed a broad and complex network of stringent financial, economic, and trade sanctions against Iran, including a comprehensive trade ban, significant measures to isolate Iran from the international financial and commercial system, as well as secondary sanctions against non-U.S. parties that engage in dealings with Iran.

 

Some (but not all) of these sanctions were removed or eased in 2015, when US President Barack Obama signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement with Iran that was also joined by the other permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, France, China, and Russia), Germany, and the European Union.

 

In 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA, in violation of a UN Security Council resolution, and subsequently imposed more sanctions on Iran, in clear contravention of international law.

 

The UN experts noted that the Trump administration not only re-imposed “sanctions that had been lifted or eased under the JCPOA”; it also “introduced additional measures. These sanctions targeted Iran’s energy, shipbuilding, shipping and financial sectors, and included the listing of more than 700 individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels.”

 

US threats of secondary sanctions on foreign countries and firms that do business with Iran, as well as over compliance, make the unilateral coercive measures even more punishing, the UN special rapporteurs wrote:

 

The full impact of the U.S. sanctions in Iran is magnified by considerable over compliance on a global scale resulting from complex, time-consuming and/or costly compliance procedures; extraterritorial enforcement and fears of penalties for inadvertent breaches; and sanctions-related obstacles to financial transactions for goods and services that the sanctions do not prohibit.

 

The primary author of this letter, the top UN expert on sanctions, Alena Douhan, has previously released reports detailing the catastrophic impact that illegal US sanctions have had on civilians in Venezuela and Syria.

 

She said these “outrageous” US sanctions are “suffocating” millions of civilians and “may amount to crimes against humanity.”

 

The letter concerning US sanctions on Iran was signed by the following UN human rights experts:

 

Alena Douhan, special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights

Richard Bennett, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan

Ian Fry, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change,

Tlaleng Mofokeng, special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

Livingstone Sewanyana, independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order

Obiora C. Okafor, independent expert on human rights and international solidarity

Fernand de Varennes, special rapporteur on minority issues

Energy conservation plan Pakistan

 

Early closure of markets on the cards as govt seeks provinces’ support for energy conservation plan

Dawn.com Published December 20, 2022   

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday that the government would approach the provinces for the implementation of a policy aimed at saving energy.The announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed authorities concerned to take steps to reduce circular debt in the energy sector.

 

“The distribution companies of Sui gas should improve the system of recovery of bills and no additional burden should be put on gas and electricity consumers,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.

 

Media reports quoting the power division have said that the circular debt which stood at Rs2.253 trillion by end of September last year had now reached Rs2.437 trillion, showing an increase of Rs185bn.

 

He said that estimates had shown that if 20 per cent of the government workforce worked from home on a rotation basis, Rs56 billion could be saved. “It is mainly about the nation limiting its lifestyle,” he said.

 

He further said that the timing of wedding halls would be limited to 10pm, while restaurants, hotels and markets would close down by 8pm. He, however, said that there may be some room for the closing time for restaurants to be extended by an hour.

 

The minister said that by implementing these few steps, the country would be able to save Rs62bn.

 

Asif said that the government was slowly working on shifting to renewable energy but until that was achieved, such measures were important.

 

He went on to say that energy-efficient fans and bulbs would soon be introduced in the market, which would further help save Rs38bn. “Similarly, if street lights are used alternatively, we would be able to save Rs4bn.”

 

The minister also revealed that the government was in talks with motorcycle companies for electric bikes. “The motorcycles that run on petrol will slowly be phased out.

 

“We have begun imports for e-bikes and have started negotiations with motorcycle companies for the modification of existing motorcycles […] this will save us around Rs86bn,” he added.

 

If all these measures were translated, Asif continued, “you will see that a lot of money can be saved”.

 

He added that the Ministry of Information would be running a media campaign to spread awareness regarding these new measures among the public.

 

Talking about water conservation, the minister said that the government had devised ways through which rain water could be harvested and used for daily household consumption. https://www.dawn.com/news/1727351/early-closure-of-markets-on-the-cards-as-govt-seeks-provinces-support-for-energy-conservation-plan

Kissinger ;Russian invasion of Ukraine and prospects of peace

 Kissinger says Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to end war

 

By Timothy Bella

May 24, 2022 at 10:47 a.m. EDT 

Former U.S. secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger said Monday that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to help end the invasion, suggesting a position that a vast majority of Ukrainians are against as the war enters its fourth month.

Speaking at a conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kissinger urged the United States and the West to not seek an embarrassing defeat for Russia in Ukraine, warning it could worsen Europe’s long-term stability.

After saying that Western countries should remember Russia’s importance to Europe and not get swept up “in the mood of the moment,” Kissinger also pushed for the West to force Ukraine into accepting negotiations with a “status quo ante,” which means the previous state of affairs.

“Negotiations need to begin in the next two months before it creates upheavals and tensions that will not be easily overcome. Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante,” said Kissinger, 98, according to the Daily Telegraph. “Pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself.”

The “status quo ante” mentioned by Kissinger, who was secretary of state to Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford, refers to restoring a situation in which Russia formally controlled Crimea and informally controlled Ukraine’s two easternmost regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that part of his conditions for entering peace talks with Russia would include a restoration of preinvasion borders.

       

      

                       

thrown the “whole international order into question.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told global leaders in Davos that the war is not only “a matter of Ukraine’s survival” or “an issue of European security” but also “a task for the entire global community.” She lamented Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “destructive fury” but said Russia could one day recover its place in Europe if it “finds its way back to democracy, the rule of law and respect for the international rules-based order … because Russia is our neighbor.”

Putin made ‘big strategic mistake,’ NATO chief says; Donbas attacks intensify

Much of Ukraine agrees with Zelensky on not giving up land in exchange for peace. A poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology this month found that 82 percent of Ukrainians are not prepared to give up any of Ukraine’s land, even if it means the war will drag on. Only 10 percent believe that giving up land is worth it to end the invasion, while 8 percent were undecided, according to the poll conducted between May 13 and last Wednesday.

The sample did not include residents of territories that were not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities before Feb. 24 — such as Crimea, Sevastopol and some districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The survey also did not include citizens who went abroad after Feb. 24.

Kissinger’s comments follow a recent editorial from the New York Times’s editorial board that argued Ukraine would have to make “painful territorial decisions” to achieve peace.

“In the end, it is the Ukrainians who must make the hard decisions: They are the ones fighting, dying and losing their homes to Russian aggression, and it is they who must decide what an end to the war might look like,” the Times editorial board wrote Thursday. “If the conflict does lead to real negotiations, it will be Ukrainian leaders who will have to make the painful territorial decisions that any compromise will demand.”

The editorial was met with backlash, including from Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, who said that “any concession to Russia is not a path to peace, but a war postponed for several years.”

In his comments Monday, Kissinger, a longtime advocate of a realpolitik approach that has nations putting their practical aims in front of morals and principles, urged European leaders to not lose sight of Russia’s place in Europe and risk the country forming a permanent alliance with China.

“I hope the Ukrainians will match the heroism they have shown with wisdom,” he said, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Critics described Kissinger’s comments as what one called “an unfortunate intervention.” Inna Sovsun, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, denounced Kissinger’s position as “truly shameful!”

“It’s a pity that the former US Secretary of State believes that giving up on part of the sovereign territory is a way to peace for any country!” Sovsun tweeted.

Podolyak returned to his refrain that Ukraine could not concede territory, even if it leads to peace, saying the country “does not trade its sovereignty for someone to fill their wallet.” He tweeted out an old photo of Kissinger shaking hands with Putin on Tuesday, with Podolyak saying he was thankful that Ukrainians fighting the war did not listen to the diplomat’s suggestion.

“As easily as Mr. #Kissinger proposes to give [Russia] part of [Ukraine] to stop the war, he would allow to take Poland or Lithuania away,” Podolyak said. “It’s good that Ukrainians in the trenches do not have time for listening to ‘Davos panickers.' They’re a little bit busy defending Freedom and Democracy.”