A/HRC/6/2 page 2 Introduction 1. The present report is submitted in response to Human Rights Council decision 4/103 of 30 March 2007, requesting the Secretary-General of the United Nations 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 at its sixth session. 2. On 4 May 2007, the Secretary-General sent a note verbale to Member States seeking their views and information as requested in the above-mentioned decision. As at 30 July 2007, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had received responses, summarized below, from the Governments of Colombia, Costa Rica, Lebanon, Georgia, Romania and the Syrian Arab Republic. The full text of the submissions is available from the Secretariat. Responses from Governments Colombia [Original: Spanish] [20 June 2007] 1. In its response, the Government reported that Colombia bases its political relations with other States on the principles of international law, notably the principles of sovereign equality of States, non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States, peaceful solution of conflicts and abstention from threats or use of force. 2. The Government indicated that the adoption of unilateral coercive measures runs contrary to the foreign policy of Colombia and that it favours cooperation as a means to promote the full realization of human rights. Costa Rica [Original: Spanish] [1 June 2007] 1. In its response, the Government stated that as a member State of the World Trade Organization, Costa Rica respects and complies with the principles of that organization, including the rejection of economic coercive measures imposed unilaterally on any State. 2. The Government indicated that it favours freedom of international trade and that it would only support a limitation of that freedom if it was in conformity with international law, either within the framework of the United Nations or the World Trade Organization. Lebanon [Original: Arabic] [22 June 2007] 1. In its response, the Government indicated that Lebanon as a Member of the United Nations is bound by all its instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.