A/HRC/39/54 populations. Discrimination on the basis of nationality or national origin violates, inter alia, article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and articles 1 and 2 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 39. That argument may be made in particular with respect to the practical effects of the unilateral comprehensive measures taken by the United States targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran, under which Iranian people are deprived of the opportunity of conducting normal business (and other) relations with foreign counterparts. 40. Reference could also be made to the legal challenges that have been brought by Iranians in recent years before the courts in the United Kingdom against a number of British banks, on the grounds that they had been subjected to racial discrimination by the banks, in breach of the provisions of the Equality Act 2010, after their bank accounts were closed.42 It has been reported that compensation was obtained by the claimants in most of those cases, often as the result of pretrial settlements. C. Sanctions on the Russian Federation and their economic and social consequences 41. On 6 April 2018, the United States Treasury imposed additional sanctions on the Russian Federation, 43 designating 7 Russian so-called oligarchs and 12 companies they owned or controlled, as well as 17 senior Russian government officials and a State-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank. 44 Those sanctions have extraterritorial effect, i.e. they may affect non-Americans conducting dealings with sanctioned Russian parties. Owing to its magnitude in terms of the profile of the targets (which encompass a wide range of economic sectors), the measure is widely believed to jeopardize the prospects of Nord Stream 2, the €9.5 billion pipeline project that will transport natural gas from the Russian Federation to Germany. Analysts believe that the pipeline, capable of supplying energy to 26 million households, which is currently under construction and scheduled to start deliveries in 2020, will face difficulty in obtaining adequate financing from Western banks. 45 The underlying logic is well known: “Because the United States is the epicentre of global finance, international bankers [need] access to U.S. capital markets to conduct international transactions”. 46 Bankers believe that they cannot afford the risk of being exposed to stiff penalties in the United States, or even forced out of the American market. European Union companies engaged in the Nord Stream 2 project are being openly threatened with sanctions by the United States administration. A spokesperson for the State Department is reported to have said: “We have been clear that firms working in the Russian energy export pipeline sector are engaging in a line of business that carries sanctions risk”.47 42. Another significant target of the new sanctions measures is RUSAL, a Russian company which is the world’s largest aluminium producer outside China. By adding the company to its “specially designated nationals” sanctions list, the United States has effectively choked off its access to the international financial system. 48 Despite the claim that the Government of the United States was not targeting the hardworking people who 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 See www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/28/iranians-uk-banks-closed-accounts-claim-racialdiscrimination. For an overview and analysis of the measures currently in force against the Russian Federation, see A/HRC/36/44/Add.1. See https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/treasury-designates-russian-oligarchs-officialsand-entities-in-response-to. See https://global.handelsblatt.com/politics/us-sanctions-russia-nord-stream-2-gas-companies909619. See Daniel.W. Drezner, “Economic sanctions in theory and practice: how smart are they?” in Coercion. The Power to Hurt in International Politics. See https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/01/u-s-close-to-imposing-sanctions-on-european-companiesin-russian-pipeline-project-nord-stream-two-germany-energy-gas-oil-putin/. See www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-rusal-exclusive/exclusive-rusal-seeks-sanctionsrelief-via-board-changes-exports-at-risk-if-plan-fails-sources-idUSKBN1HY0ZG. 13