A/HRC/28/74
advanced drugs are also not available. The embargo imposed against Cuba not only affects
the supply of medicine. Health services depend on functioning water and sanitation
infrastructure, electricity and other equipment, such as X-ray equipment and refrigerators to
store vaccines. The embargo has also slowed down the renovation of hospitals, clinics and
care centres for older persons.35
28.
According to the Government, the State is forced to pay above-market prices and
tariffs on goods purchased and shipped from distant markets, while the blockade imposes
difficult terms on credit and trade and blocks access to many goods and technologies. It is
estimated that the embargo on Cuba creates a virtual tax of 30 per cent on all imports. 36
B.
Zimbabwe
29.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Zimbabwean leaders in 2002. The
sanctions include, inter alia, targeted sanctions in the form of a travel ban and asset freeze
on members of the Government and persons and entities associated with it. The motivation
of the sanctions had its origins in the agrarian reform begun by President Mugabe in
2000/01, which entailed the expropriation of land from white farmers, and which was
accompanied by a wave of political violence and the intimidation of the opposition. 37
30.
The country’s population of 13 million people has suffered from the sanctions.
Poverty and unemployment rates are high, while infrastructure is sorely lacking. Diseases
such as HIV/AIDS, typhoid and malaria give the country an average life expectancy of
between 53 to 55 years. The country is rich in minerals, but this has been translated into
neither sustainable economic growth nor prosperity for its people.
31.
In a report published in 2010, UNICEF found that some 34 per cent of children
under 5 were underdeveloped, 2 per cent were stunted and 10 per cent underweight.
Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates of orphaned children in the world (25 per cent of all
children), and experience of violence and abuse is widespread. At least 21 per cent of the
first sexual encounter experienced by girls is forced, and the perception that family violence
is acceptable is shared by both women and men (48 and 37 per cent, respectively). Corporal
punishment is legally administered. Two-thirds of children report experiencing such
punishment at school. The combination of poverty, neglect and violence contributes to the
large number of children on the move, resulting in unsafe migration and child
exploitation.38
C
Islamic Republic of Iran
32.
Acting through the Security Council and regional or national authorities, the United
States of America, the States members of the European Union, Japan, the Republic of
Korea, Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland and others have put in place a strong
interlocking matrix of sanctions and measures relating to the nuclear, missile, energy,
shipping, transportation and financial sectors of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
35
36
37
38
10
Amnesty International, The US Embargo against Cuba (see footnote 28).
Richard Garfield and Arah Santana, “The Impact of the Economic Crisis and US Embargo on Health
in Cuba”, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 87, No.1 (January 1997), pp. 15–20.
C. Portela, “The EU’s Use of ‘Targeted’ Sanctions” (see footnote 11).
UNICEF Annual Report for Zimbabwe, available from
www.unicef.org/zimbabwe/Zimbabwe2010_Annual_Report_Sept_2011.pdf.
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