A/HRC/27/51 G. Human Rights Council workshop on unilateral coercive measures 54. The Independent Expert participated in the one-day workshop convened in Geneva on 23 May 2014 pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 24/14. He endorsed the pertinent study being conducted by the Advisory Committee, which was presented by Advisory Committee member Jean Ziegler. The consensus of the expert meeting was that economic sanctions are not “peaceful” but a form of violence whose effects are often incompatible with the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 55. Denis Halliday, a former Assistant-Secretary-General, stated that “in respect of unilateral coercive measures, this session needs to establish that all such measures are illegal, in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, and recommend complete cessation… [yet] recognizing unilateral measures will be hard to stop, we must find a means to demand close monitoring and accountability in respect of those States that illegally continue to impose such measures. Perhaps devices such as United Nations suspension, loss of General Assembly voting rights, payment of reparations, and payment of individual citizen compensation could be considered. Tight monitoring by the Human Rights Council would be required, with quarterly reporting to the General Assembly, or to a revitalized and operational International Court of Justice.”77 56. The Independent Expert observed that unilateralism and exceptionalism are anachronisms under international law, incompatible with the spirit and letter of the Charter of the United Nations and with a democratic and equitable international order. Although sanctions, in particular unilateral sanctions, are sometimes imposed with spurious human rights justifications, they frequently have opposite effects to those intended. Considering that many victims of sanctions are not governments but innocent populations, it is important to test the legality of sanctions regimes on a case-by-case basis. This can be done through the individual complaints procedures established pursuant to several human rights treaties, including the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Sanctions regimes should also be reviewed in the context of State reporting procedures before the United Nations human rights treaty bodies and under the universal periodic review of the Human Rights Council.78 57. Experience confirms the futility of trying to coerce States to change their human rights performance simply by imposing sanctions, which more often than not are avoided by governments and result in injustices vis-à-vis innocent people. What is necessary is to persuade States that it is in their own interest to strengthen human rights in law and practice, for which the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) can provide advisory services and technical assistance. The Independent Expert would also like to see the watchdog role of the media enhanced,79 with more attention being devoted to the human rights consequences of sanctions regimes. It is the function of the media to alert the public about the suffering that sanctions bring to innocent human beings, not to sweep it under the rug. In totalitarian States citizen have no voice. In democratic countries, however, citizens bear responsibility for the decisions taken by their 77 78 79 www.ohchr.org/Documents/Events/Seminars/CoercitiveMeasures/DenisHalliday.pdf See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14639&LangID=E. On 13 August 2013, the New York Times published an interview with Edward Snowden in which he deplored the failure of the media to inform the public. “After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power – the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government – for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism”. See www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/snowden-maass-transcript.html?_r=0. 19