Iran drug embargo; The United Nations acknowledges human rights violations by the United States (October 17, 2021). Human rights violations goes back to at least 40 years and in many cases to 200 years ago against Iranian people.
In a recent report, UN rapporteurs described the US sanctions as a violation of human rights for some patients in Iran.
Unilateral sanctions that are illegally imposed on a country are examples of economic terrorism. However, when these sanctions target the citizens' health and expand to the field of food and medicine, causing suffering, terror and violation of the fundamental rights of individuals, it is an example of human rights violations and direct terrorism. The US sanctions for a member country of the United Nations are not limited to the sale of oil, equipment and facilities. These sanctions target the country's medical and pharmaceutical equipment, and its negative effects are evident in the lives of many special patients, incurable and cancerous.
A number of UN experts and special rapporteurs on human rights stressed in a report on October 17, 2021, that some patients in Iran face difficulties in accessing the drugs and medical equipment they need as a result of US sanctions. Sanctions prevent these patients the right to health.
"US sanctions have prevented children and other people living with the disease in Iran from the right to health," the report said. Denying people access to medical equipment is a violation of human rights to health and is completely inhumane. Even if unintentional, it leads to more suffering, among them millions of children and elderly.
UN experts added the decision of a Swedish company and the Swedish government to cooperate with the US sanctions, calling it a violation of international obligations to ensure the implementation of human rights and stressed: This is an example of many lives of people, including children, are affected, mainly because of sanctions against the destination country and the fear of being punished by the United States.
While sanctions on Iran have been pushed into the healthcare sector by the US government, which claims human rights, US officials say the drugs and medical equipment do not include sanctions; there is no direct import of raw materials into the country. In addition, parts of medical equipment such as MRI, CT scan, radiology and angiography are not possible to import because of sanctions.
The report goes on to emphasize that international law force governments and corporations not to impede human rights in their business dealings. Although companies are free to decide on the sale of their products, those companies that produce drugs and humanitarian goods have a special responsibility and are obliged to consider human rights in their interactions. According to the website of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Alena Dohan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the effects of sanctions and unilateral sanctions on human rights, has contacted the Swedish government.
Medicines and healthcare items are important that various international documents state that the health of the people, whether directly or indirectly, should not be affected by sanctions, and that all governments should adhere to them. The United States at least for 40 years has tried endangering the health of the Iranian people and increasing the cost of living, or in other words, by making people's lives difficult, and this is considered human rights violations.
(Article changed on Oct 24, 2021 at 1:59 PM EDT)
(Article changed on Oct 24, 2021 at 2:01 PM EDT)
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