UNITED
NATIONS
E
Economic and Social
Council
Distr.
GENERAL
E/C.12/1997/8
12 December 1997
Original:
ENGLISH
COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL
AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Seventeenth session
17 November-5 December 1997
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC,
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
General Comment No. 8 (1997)
The relationship between economic sanctions and respect
for economic, social and cultural rights
1.
Economic sanctions are being imposed with increasing frequency, both
internationally, regionally and unilaterally. The purpose of this general
comment is to emphasize that, whatever the circumstances, such sanctions
should always take full account of the provisions of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Committee does not in
any way call into question the necessity for the imposition of sanctions in
appropriate cases in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter of the
United Nations or other applicable international law. But those provisions of
the Charter that relate to human rights (Articles 1, 55 and 56) must still be
considered to be fully applicable in such cases.
2.
During the 1990s the Security Council has imposed sanctions of varying
kind and duration in relation to South Africa, Iraq/Kuwait, parts of the
former Yugoslavia, Somalia, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liberia, Haiti,
Angola, Rwanda and the Sudan. The impact of sanctions upon the enjoyment of
economic, social and cultural rights has been brought to the Committee's
attention in a number of cases involving States parties to the Covenant, some
of which have reported regularly, thereby giving the Committee the opportunity
to examine the situation carefully.
GE.97-19719
(E)