A/HRC/4/61 page 2 Introduction 1. The present report is submitted in response to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/14, requesting 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 Human Rights Council decision 2/102, requesting the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights “to continue with the fulfilment of their activities, in accordance with all previous decisions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and to update the relevant reports and studies”. 2. On 17 November 2006, the Secretary-General sent a note verbale to Member States seeking their views and information as requested in the above-mentioned resolution. As at 4 January 2007, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had received responses, summarized below, from the Governments of Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago. The full text of the submissions is available from the Secretariat. Responses from Governments Colombia [Original: Spanish] [22 December 2006] 1. In its response, the Government reported that Colombia opposes the use of unilateral coercive measures or sanctions and that it favours cooperation and aid as a means to promote the full realization of human rights and address obstacles that hinder the attainment of that objective. 2. The Government indicated that it supports the call of the General Assembly to Member States that have applied unilateral coercive measures to revoke them as soon as possible, in accordance with obligations undertaken under international humanitarian law. Cuba [Original: Spanish] [21 December 2006] 1. In its response, the Government of Cuba recalled that, according to numerous resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly, as well as political declarations adopted at international summits and conferences, economic unilateral coercive measures are contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and international law. The Government indicated that unilateral coercive measures used as a tool for political and economic coercion are an attack on the independence, sovereignty, and right to self-determination of peoples, as well as on the full enjoyment of all human rights. The main victims are the populations of the countries subject to such measures, in particular, the most vulnerable groups such as children, women, the elderly and persons with disabilities.