DM Monitoring
BEIJING: China, on behalf of Pakistan and 25 other countries critises USA on issue of human rights, China Economic Net reported on Tuesday.
A Chinese envoy made a joint statement at the General Debate of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly criticizing the United States and Western countries for violating human rights, calling for the complete and immediate lifting of unilateral sanctions, and expressing grave concern on systematic racial discrimination.
Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, made the statement on behalf of Pakistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Palestine, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Sudan, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to severely affect all nations, in particular developing countries.The response to and recovery from COVID-19 requires global solidarity and international cooperation.
“However, we continue to witness the application of unilateral coercive measures, which are contrary to the purpose and principles of the UN Charter and international law, multilateralism and the basic norms of international relations,” said Zhang. The statement welcomes the UN secretary-general’s appeal of March 26, 2020, on the waiving of sanctions that undermine countries’ capacity to respond to COVID-19, as well as the statement made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on March 23 on the need to ease or suspend sectoral sanctions in light of their debilitating impact on the health sector and human rights. It also reaffirms the Group of 77 and China’s statement calling for urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries, as well as the Non-Aligned Movement’s declaration on condemning unilateral coercive measures and urging their elimination to ensure the effectiveness of national responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement also welcomes the recently adopted General Assembly resolution on a comprehensive and coordinated response to virus, which strongly urges states to refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures not in accordance with international law.
