A/HRC/19/33 and to property.42 In fact, the targeted effect of such “individualized” sanctions may be more likely to violate such individual rights than the more diffuse general trade sanctions. IV. The impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights 28. The question of how to assess the harmful effects of unilateral coercive measures, in particular those of a general nature targeting the economy as a whole, rather than particular individuals, on human rights is a difficult one as evidenced by the empirical analysis of economic sanctions undertaken by Hufbauer and Schott. 43 29. Some guidance may be drawn from the replies by Governments expressing their views on the implications and negative impacts of unilateral coercive measures on their populations in response to a note verbale sent out by OHCHR,44 and reflected in annual reports of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly. 30. The scope of Human Rights Council resolution 15/24 is confined to the impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights. Multilateral measures such as those authorized by the United Nations under Chapter VII of the Charter or by the European Union, for example, are ipso facto excluded from the ambit of the present study. A key analytical challenge comes from the fact that countries are sometimes the target of both unilateral and multilateral sanctions, making the distinction of impacts difficult to assess. 45 31. What is clear is that unilateral coercive measures encompass a range of actions, including trade embargoes, financial restrictions, acquisition of property, freezing of assets, visa restrictions, and withholding of vital medical supplies and spare parts for various machineries. The measures in question often extend extraterritorial application of domestic rules, adversely affecting the interests of third States and their nationals. 32. Unilateral coercive measures in the form of economic sanctions can have farreaching implications for the human rights of the general population of target States.46 The 42 43 44 45 46 European Court of Justice, 3 September 2008, 47 ILM 923 (2008), paras. 348 and 349, where the Court held that the applicants‟ rights of defence as well as their right to an effective legal remedy had in fact been infringed. Ibid., para. 370. The European Court of Justice held that in the circumstances of the case, the imposition of the restrictive measures constituted an unjustified restriction of the right to property. G. Hufbauer and J. Schott, Economic Sanctions Reconsidered: History and Current Policy (Institute for International Economics, 1985), pp. 32-33. Annual report of the Secretary-General on human rights and unilateral coercive measures (A/66/272), para. 2. An article published by a group of medical researchers found “strong evidence that the Gulf war and trade sanctions caused a threefold increase in mortality among Iraqi children under five years of age”. The group estimated that an excess of more than 46,900 children died between January and August 1991. (Alberto Ascherio et. al., “Effect of the Gulf war on infant and child mortality in Iraq”, The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 327, No. 13 (1992), pp. 931 and 933-934). See also the background paper on the human rights impact of the economic sanctions on Iraq, prepared by OHCHR for the meeting of the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs, 5 September 2000, para. 6. The economic measures applied by the United States of America against Cuba have spanned over half a century (A/66/272, p. 7). Cuba maintains that these measures have devastating effects on all Cuban citizens irrespective of their age, race, sex, religion or social standing (ibid., pp. 7-10). See also Marc Bossuyt, “The adverse consequences of economic sanctions on the enjoyment of human rights”, working paper prepared for the Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/33). The paper concluded that the United States embargo on Cuba affects human rights in two distinct ways. First, “the fact that the United States is the major regional economic power and the main source of new medicines and technologies means 9