YouSaid · the spoken record

Dausa Cespedes

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12
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2000-04-17
most recent
2000-04-17
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “The report of the Secretary-General on the Millennium Assembly mentions instances of some countries that have allegedly worked in the interest of making sanctions humane. However, it is also important to recall that, for various years the countries of the Non- Aligned Movement - which, by the way, are the majority in this Organization - have reiterated a wide- ranging set of proposals on the implementation of sanctions by the United Nations, and these have been included in many documents and statements. We sincerely hope that those proposals are duly taken into account in all future discussions on the issue of sanctions, including in the informal working group to be established today by the Security Council.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  2. “In addition, substantial modifications are required in the working methods of the sanctions committees of the Security Council, presently characterized by the same distortions seen today in the decisions and procedures of the Security Council, including the lack of transparency. The fact that we advocate a comprehensive reform of the Security Council and the re-establishment of the balance of functions between this organ and the General Assembly as basic prerequisites for the sanctions regimes to function in accordance with what is envisaged in the Charter cannot be construed as an invitation to stand idly by in the present situation. On the contrary. The Council must immediately listen to Member States' demands concerning the need to draft clear-cut and concrete criteria for the imposition, implementation and lifting of sanctions.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  3. “Sanctions regimes must have clear-cut objectives and must be immediately lifted when such objectives have been met. We also think that any attempt to use sanctions to totally change or modify a country's political or legal order or to resolve international disputes is illegal and in violation of international law. Every sanctions regime must include specific and appropriate measures to make sure that the affected population has the necessary humanitarian assistance and is not deprived of the rights to life, food and health. Sanctions regimes must be subject to periodic reviews and be adjusted in accordance with the humanitarian situation in the sanctioned State.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  4. “We strongly feel that the General Assembly should be given the chance to participate actively in the process of decision-making on the possible implementation of sanctions against a Member State and, later, on the follow-up to that implementation. This could be accomplished through the consideration of special reports that the Council should submit to the Assembly in this connection. Unfortunately, what is established in Articles 15 and 24 of the Charter continues to be implemented selectively, and it would seem that there is no issue in the Security Council's opinion that would warrant submitting special reports. We reaffirm once more our total rejection of the imposition of blockades whose consequences never achieve their goals, only taking a toll on and damaging peoples, in particular the most vulnerable sectors.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  5. “Eleven million people see their fundamental rights to life violated just because they want to be free, only because they rejected the imperial dictate more than 40 years ago. To guarantee that sanctions can act as a just and effective mechanism would also require the establishment of a genuine dynamic interrelationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly, pursuant to the provisions of the Charter. The functions assigned to the Assembly in matters of peace and security ought to be urgently strengthened, even more so as the reform of the Security Council is still a goal to be met. Only once a year the General Assembly receives from the Security Council, in the form of faits accomplis, scant information of little use on the work of the Council in the area of sanctions.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  6. “This same Council cannot act or take any measure against a country that maintains a genocidal regime of unilateral sanctions against Cuba, violating the principles of the Charter and the most elemental norms of international law. The economic, financial and commercial blockade by the United States against Cuba is maintained not only outside the framework of the United Nations, but also in spite of being condemned for seven consecutive years by this Organization's General Assembly. In Geneva, the United States and its accomplices and lackeys devote so much rhetoric, so much hypocrisy to the issue of human rights and indulge in the dirtiest manipulations with regard to the issue, while the United States blockade against Cuba constitutes a gross and flagrant violation of the Cuban people's human rights.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  7. “Particularly illustrative is the fact that nearly 70 per cent of the sanctions regimes currently in force are concentrated in African countries. Can anybody seriously argue that no developed country has ever threatened international peace and security in such a way as to justify the implementation of sanctions? Did not the bombings that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization carried out for 79 days, less than a year ago in Kosovo, in flagrant violation of the Charter and in gross disregard of this Council, justify the immediate implementation of sanctions against the sponsors of such actions? It is obvious why the Council was totally incapacitated, unable to take action to sanction those who, with total impunity, breached the peace and in effect broke the mechanism of collective security derived from the Second World War.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  8. “It is precisely this fact that has made it possible for some permanent members of the Security Council to plainly manipulate the sanction regimes according to their geopolitical and hegemonic interests, including the well-known cases of Libya - whose sanctions have not been permanently lifted although it is in full compliance with Council resolutions - and of Iraq, whose children continue to die as a result of sanctions in spite of the acknowledged progress that has been achieved. It is not surprising, since the Security Council is an organ where developing countries are totally under- represented, that the 14 sanctions regimes hitherto implemented by the Council have been against countries of the developing world, without exception.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  9. “My delegation believes that from this stems the need to democratize the decision-making processes of the Council and to guarantee that its decisions really respond to the collective will of the Organization. Unfortunately, in spite of being an Organization with 188 Member States, in practice decisions concerning to whom, how and when sanctions are applied depend almost exclusively on the arrangements made by the five countries having the veto power.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  10. “Therefore, in our judgment, the issue of the implementation of sanctions is inextricably linked to the reform of the Council's working methods and the expansion of its membership. Pursuant to what is set out in the Charter of the United Nations, the Council acts on behalf of all Members States of the Organization. This means that the imposition of sanctions by the Council against a Member State ought to be a collective decision, or at least have the understanding and approval of the collective will of the rest of the Member States that the Council represents. In this sense, the imposition and implementation of sanctions cannot constitute a second privilege in addition to the power of the veto. It cannot represent an exclusive right of a select club of countries, nor a coercive instrument in the hands of a few Security Council members.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  11. “In accordance with the spirit of the Charter, the imposition of sanctions constitutes an extreme measure to be considered only when there is a real threat to international peace and security, when all the means foreseen under Chapter VI of the Charter for a peaceful solution of disputes have been exhausted and after a careful assessment of the short- and long-term economic, social and humanitarian impact of those sanctions. However, we all know this has not always been the case. In the Cuban delegation's view, in order for sanctions established by the United Nations to become an effective and just mechanism that adheres strictly to the provisions of the Charter, comprehensive reform of the Security Council is needed.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source

  12. “Mr. Dausa Cespedes (Cuba) (spoke in Spanish): First of all, allow me to express sincere congratulations to the President on behalf of my delegation for convening this meeting and for the interest Canada, Minister Axworthy and you yourself, Mr. President, have placed on the issue sanctions. I also wish to congratulate you, sir, for the work you have done to date as President of the Security Council for the month of April.”

    2000-04-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4128 (2000) · source