UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for easing sanctions on such countries as Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela, to avoid potential weakening of their health sectors amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, her office, OHCHR, said in a press release on Tuesday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2020) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for easing sanctions on such countries as Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela, to avoid potential weakening of their health sectors amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, her office, OHCHR, said in a press release on Tuesday.
"At this crucial time, both for global public health reasons, and to support the rights and lives of millions of people in these countries, sectoral sanctions should be eased or suspended," Bachelet said in the release. "In a context of a global pandemic, impeding medical efforts in one country heightens the risk for all of us."
Sectoral sanctions, the release added, can harm access to protective medical equipment in states like Iran, which has been severely hit by the COVID-19 epidemic. Since the outbreak in the Islamic Republic, more than 50 health workers have died from the virus and the epidemic is spreading further to neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, in such countries as North Korea, Cuba and Zimbabwe, health systems are already frail, and obstacles to importing essential medical supplies due to existing sanctions will harm vulnerable communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.
It added that in Venezuela, some hospitals regularly experience a lack of medicines, equipment, soap, water and electricity. Easing of sectoral sanctions could allow the country to allocate more resources to treat and contain the epidemic.
Bachelet urged the international community to cooperate and show solidarity, while noted that countries under sanctions need to provide transparent information and accept offers of humanitarian help amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
