By imposing unilateral and illegal sanctions on more than 30 countries with a combined population exceeding 2.2 billion people, Western powers have contributed to rising poverty, hunger, mortality, and internal conflicts in these states. Economic sanctions, ostensibly aimed at political leverage and control over the natural and political resources of independent nations, amount in practice to a form of economic terrorism with destructive effects on vulnerable segments of society. In this context, the international conference on “Unilateral Coercive Measures,” held in Brussels, emphasized that such sanctions not only violate human rights but also result in a slow and widespread form of genocide that is obscured by Western media censorship. These measures unjustly and inhumanely target people’s security, health, and fundamental rights.
Sanctions and Crimes Against Humanity: UN Special Rapporteur’s Report
Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, has described these actions as violations of international law and crimes against humanity. She has particularly highlighted the harmful effects of sanctions on Iran, especially in the field of medicine and healthcare. Western banking and economic restrictions have hindered financial transfers needed to procure pharmaceutical raw materials, placing the lives of millions at risk. Douhan stated that sanctions against Iran and other sanctioned countries are not only illegal but also contrary to basic humanitarian and human principles. In effect, the West has waged an economic war against these nations through sanctions rather than direct political or military pressure—an approach that can be characterized as economic genocide.
A Deadly Double Standard and a Human Rights Catastrophe
While remaining silent in the face of the crimes and apartheid policies of the Zionist regime in Palestine, Western countries impose harsh sanctions on independent states in an effort to reshape the global order in their favor. At the same time as providing billions of dollars in aid to the Zionist regime, the West enforces severe sanctions on countries such as Iran, Russia, North Korea, and Yemen, the outcomes of which have been increased famine, mortality, and humanitarian crises. These contradictions reveal the West’s double standards and the failure of international institutions to take effective action against such crimes. International reports, particularly those concerning Iran, reflect the neglect of realities and the distortion of findings by international bodies.
A New Order: Responding to Economic Terrorism
Based on the reports presented at the Brussels conference and Iran’s continued efforts to counter sanctions, it appears that confronting economic terrorism and preventing global-scale genocide requires the creation of a new international order. This order would rely on synergy among sanctioned countries and the formation of a “club of the sanctioned” to neutralize sanctions and reduce economic pressure on targeted states. As a country that has been under Western sanctions for more than four decades, Iran has consistently emphasized the need for international cooperation among sanctioned nations and has proposed various models to counter economic terrorism. This approach, it is argued, could offer an effective solution to the economic and social pressures caused by Western sanctions.
NOURNEWS