Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 21 December 2010  [on the report of the Third Committee (A/65/456/Add.2 (Part II))]  65/217. Human rights and unilateral coercive measures        The General Assembly,    Recalling all its previous resolutions on this subject, the most recent of which  was resolution 64/170 of 18 December 2009, Human Rights Council resolution  15/24 of 1 October 2010 1  and previous resolutions of the Council and the  Commission on Human Rights,    Reaffirming the pertinent principles and provisions contained in the Charter of  Economic Rights and Duties of States proclaimed by the General Assembly in its  resolution 3281 (XXIX) of 12 December 1974, in particular article 32 thereof, in  which it declared that no State may use or encourage the use of economic, political  or any other type of measures to coerce another State in order to obtain from it the  subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights,    Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General submitted pursuant to  General Assembly resolution 64/1702 and the reports of the Secretary-General on  the implementation of Assembly resolutions 52/120 of 12 December 1997 3 and  55/110 of 4 December 2000,4     Stressing that unilateral coercive measures and legislation are contrary to  international law, international humanitarian law, the Charter of the United Nations  and the norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States,    Recognizing the universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated character  of all human rights, and in this regard reaffirming the right to development as an  integral part of all human rights,    Recalling the Final Document of the Fifteenth Summit Conference of Heads of  State and Government of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, held in Sharm  el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 11 to 16 July 2009,5 and those adopted at previous summits  _______________  1 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 53A (A/65/53/Add.1),  chap. II.  2 A/65/119.  3 A/53/293 and Add.1.  4 A/56/207 and Add.1.  5 A/63/965-S/2009/514, annex.   A/RES/65/217  2  and conferences, in which States members of the Movement agreed to oppose and  condemn those measures or laws and their continued application, persevere with  efforts to effectively reverse them and urge other States to do likewise, as called for  by the General Assembly and other United Nations organs, and request States  applying those measures or laws to revoke them fully and immediately,    Recalling also that, at the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna  from 14 to 25 June 1993, States were called upon to refrain from any unilateral  measure not in accordance with international law and the Charter that creates  obstacles to trade relations among States and impedes the full realization of all  human rights6 and also severely threatens the freedom of trade,    Bearing in mind all the references to this question in the Copenhagen  Declaration on Social Development adopted by the World Summit for Social  Development on 12 March 1995,7 the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action  adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women on 15 September 1995, 8 the  Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements and the Habitat Agenda adopted by the  second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) on 14 June  1996,9 and their five-year reviews,    Expressing concern about the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures  on international relations, trade, investment and cooperation,    Expressing grave concern that, in some countries, the situation of children is  adversely affected by unilateral coercive measures not in accordance with  international law and the Charter that create obstacles to trade relations among  States, impede the full realization of social and economic development and hinder  the well-being of the population in the affected countries, with particular  consequences for women and children, including adolescents,    Deeply concerned that, despite the recommendations adopted on this question  by the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the Commission on Human  Rights and recent major United Nations conferences, and contrary to general  international law and the Charter, unilateral coercive measures continue to be  promulgated and implemented, with all their negative implications for the social  humanitarian activities and economic and social development of developing  countries, including their extraterritorial effects, thereby creating additional  obstacles to the full enjoyment of all human rights by peoples and individuals under  the jurisdiction of other States,    Bearing in mind all the extraterritorial effects of any unilateral legislative,  administrative and economic measures, policies and practices of a coercive nature  against the development process and the enhancement of human rights in developing  countries, which create obstacles to the full realization of all human rights,    Reaffirming that unilateral coercive measures are a major obstacle to the  implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development,10   _______________  6 See A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III.  7 Report of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 6–12 March 1995 (United Nations  publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.8), chap. I, resolution 1, annex I.  8 Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations  publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.  9 Report of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Istanbul, 3–14 June 1996  (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.IV.6), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.  10 Resolution 41/128, annex.   A/RES/65/217  3    Recalling article 1, paragraph 2, common to the International Covenant on  Civil and Political Rights11 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and  Cultural Rights,11 which provides, inter alia, that in no case may a people be  deprived of its own means of subsistence,    Noting the continuing efforts of the open-ended Working Group on the Right  to Development of the Human Rights Council, and reaffirming in particular its  criteria, according to which unilateral coercive measures are one of the obstacles to  the implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development,     1.  Urges all States to cease adopting or implementing any unilateral measures  not in accordance with international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the  norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States, in particular those of  a coercive nature, with all their extraterritorial effects, which create obstacles to trade  relations among States, thus impeding the full realization of the rights set forth in the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights 12  and other international human rights  instruments, in particular the right of individuals and peoples to development;     2.  Also urges all States not to adopt any unilateral measures not in  accordance with international law and the Charter that impede the full achievement  of economic and social development by the population of the affected countries, in  particular children and women, that hinder their well-being and that create obstacles  to the full enjoyment of their human rights, including the right of everyone to a  standard of living adequate for his or her health and well-being and his or her right  to food, medical care and education and the necessary social services, as well as to  ensure that food and medicine are not used as tools for political pressure;    3.  Strongly objects to the extraterritorial nature of those measures which, in  addition, threaten the sovereignty of States, and in this context calls upon all  Member States neither to recognize those measures nor to apply them, as well as to  take administrative or legislative measures, as appropriate, to counteract the  extraterritorial applications or effects of unilateral coercive measures;     4.  Condemns the continuing unilateral application and enforcement by  certain Powers of unilateral coercive measures, and rejects those measures, with all  their extraterritorial effects, as being tools for political or economic pressure against  any country, in particular against developing countries, adopted with a view to  preventing those countries from exercising their right to decide, of their own free  will, their own political, economic and social systems, and because of the negative  effects of those measures on the realization of all the human rights of vast sectors of  their populations, in particular children, women and the elderly;    5.  Reaffirms that essential goods such as food and medicines should not be  used as tools for political coercion and that under no circumstances should people  be deprived of their own means of subsistence and development;    6.  Calls upon Member States that have initiated such measures to abide by  the principles of international law, the Charter, the declarations of the United  Nations and world conferences and relevant resolutions and to commit themselves  to their obligations and responsibilities arising from the international human rights  instruments to which they are parties by revoking such measures at the earliest  possible time;  _______________  11 See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.  12 Resolution 217 A (III).   A/RES/65/217  4    7.  Reaffirms, in this context, the right of all peoples to self-determination,  by virtue of which they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their  economic, social and cultural development;    8.  Recalls that, according to the Declaration on Principles of International  Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance  with the Charter of the United Nations, contained in the annex to General Assembly  resolution 2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970, and the relevant principles and  provisions contained in the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States  proclaimed by the Assembly in its resolution 3281 (XXIX), in particular article 32  thereof, no State may use or encourage the use of economic, political or any other  type of measures to coerce another State in order to obtain from it the subordination  of the exercise of its sovereign rights and to secure from it advantages of any kind;     9.  Rejects all attempts to introduce unilateral coercive measures, and urges  the Human Rights Council to take fully into account the negative impact of those  measures, including through the enactment of national laws and their extraterritorial  application which are not in conformity with international law, in its task concerning  the implementation of the right to development;    10. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in  discharging her functions relating to the promotion, realization and protection of the  right to development and bearing in mind the continuing impact of unilateral  coercive measures on the population of developing countries, to give priority to the  present resolution in her annual report to the General Assembly;    11. Underlines the fact that unilateral coercive measures are one of the major  obstacles to the implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development,10  and in this regard calls upon all States to avoid the unilateral imposition of  economic coercive measures and the extraterritorial application of domestic laws  that run counter to the principles of free trade and hamper the development of  developing countries, as recognized by the Working Group on the Right to  Development of the Human Rights Council;    12. Recognizes that, in the Declaration of Principles adopted at the first  phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, held in Geneva from 10 to  12 December 2003, 13 States were strongly urged to avoid and refrain from any  unilateral measure not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the  United Nations in building the information society;     13. Supports the invitation of the Human Rights Council to all special  rapporteurs and existing thematic mechanisms of the Council in the field of  economic, social and cultural rights to pay due attention, within the scope of their  respective mandates, to the negative impact and consequences of unilateral coercive  measures;    14. Reaffirms the request of the Human Rights Council that the Office of the  United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights prepare a thematic study on  the impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights;    15. Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the  attention of all Member States, to continue to collect their views and information on  the implications and negative effects of unilateral coercive measures on their  _______________  13 A/C.2/59/3, annex, chap. I, sect. A.   A/RES/65/217  5  populations and to submit an analytical report thereon to the General Assembly at its  sixty-sixth session, while reiterating once again the need to highlight the practical and  preventive measures in this respect;    16. Decides to examine the question on a priority basis at its sixty-sixth  session under the sub-item entitled “Human rights questions, including alternative  approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental  freedoms”.