UN expert decries US sanctions as gross violation of human rights

Tehran, May 7, IRNA – The UN expert and Special Rapporteur Idriss Jazairy said in a statement that US sanctions against Iran, Venezuela and Cuba as violation of human rights law. 'Use of economic sanctions for political purposes violates the human rights law and the peremptory norms of the International Law,' Jazairy said. 'Regime change through economic measures likely to lead to the denial of basic human rights and indeed possibly to famine has never been an accepted practice of international relations,' the statement reads. He added: 'Real concerns and serious political differences between governments must never be resolved by precipitating economic and humanitarian disasters, making ordinary people pawns and hostages thereof.' 'The resort by a major power of its dominant position in the international financial arena against its allies to cause economic hardship to the economy of sovereign States is contrary to International Law, and inevitably undermines the human rights of their citizens,' he noted. On May 8, 2018, Trump withdrew from the JCPOA, which was condemned by other parties to the 2015 agreement. Trump's choice has faced opposition of the international community; namely Russia, China, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini. Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that countries are trying to push the US into a disastrous conflict, adding that they will suffer its consequences. 'So this is a cabal ... who are pushing the United States and President Trump into conflict and into disastrous situations and they will be the first to suffer the consequences, unfortunately,' Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with Qatari media. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish