UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/9/2 17 July 2008 Original: ENGLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Ninth session Agenda item 2 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND REPORTS OF THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE SECRETARY-GENERAL Human rights and unilateral coercive measures Report of the Secretary-General* Introduction 1. The present report is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 6/7, in which the Council requested the Secretary-General to seek the views and information of Member States on the implications and negative effects of unilateral coercive measures on their populations and to report thereon to the Council. 2. On 15 April 2008, the Secretary-General sent a note verbale to Member States seeking their views and information. As at 30 June 2008, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had received responses, summarized below, from the Governments of Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Cuba, Ecuador, Iraq and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). The full text of the submissions is available from the Secretariat. * The present document is submitted late in order to include the most recent information. GE.08-14716 (E) 240708