The present report is submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Idriss Jazairy, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 27/21, 30/2 and 34/13.
[…] Against this background, it is generally assumed that extraterritorial sanctions are unlawful. The reason for this is basically that most extraterritorial sanctions cannot invoke any of the above-mentioned criteria. In particular, the effects doctrine, sometimes invoked by the United States as a justification for the implementation of extraterritorial measures, could be potentially legally warranted in only a very limited number of cases, given the cumulative requirements that the said effects (of the situation that has triggered the decision to impose sanctions) on the territory of the targeting State be direct, foreseeable and substantial. It also appears that extraterritorial sanctions cannot generally be justified as legitimate countermeasures under the law of State responsibility. A number of negative reactions to the practice of extraterritorial sanctions have been expressed over time by United Nations organs, other international organizations and individual States, and are reflected in the academic literature. The assumption that extraterritorial sanctions are unlawful is shared by a vast number of countries. Since 1992, the General Assembly has annually voiced its condemnation of the extraterritorial reach of the embargo imposed on Cuba by the United States. Läs hela dokumentet: Rapport till Generalförsamlingen