Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2004  [on the report of the Third Committee (A/59/503/Add.2)]  59/188. Human rights and unilateral coercive measures        The General Assembly,    Recalling all its previous resolutions, the most recent of which was resolution  58/171 of 22 December 2003, and Commission on Human Rights resolution  2004/22 of 16 April 2004,1    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, 2 submitted pursuant to  Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/21 of 23 April 1999,3 and the reports  of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolutions 52/120 of  12 December 19974 and 55/110 of 4 December 2000,5    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 that the World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna from  14 to 25 June 1993, called upon States to refrain from any unilateral coercive  measure not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United  Nations that creates obstacles to trade relations among States and impedes the full  realization of all human rights,6  _______________  1 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2004, Supplement No. 3 (E/2004/23), chap. II,  sect. A.  2 E/CN.4/2000/46 and Add.1.  3 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1999, Supplement No. 3 (E/1999/23), chap. II,  sect. A.  4 A/53/293 and Add.1.  5 A/56/207 and Add.1.  6 See A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III, sect. I, para. 31.   A/RES/59/188  2    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 its concern about the negative impact of unilateral coercive  measures on international relations, trade, investment and cooperation,    Expressing its 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 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,    Noting the continuing efforts of the open-ended Working Group on the Right  to Development of the Commission on Human Rights, 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,10    1.  Urges all States to refrain from adopting or implementing any unilateral  measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United  Nations, 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 Rights11  and other international human rights instruments, in particular the right of  individuals and peoples to development;  _______________  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.  11 Resolution 217 A (III).   A/RES/59/188  3    2.  Also urges all States to take steps to avoid and to refrain from adopting  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 their  health and well-being and their right to food, medical care and the necessary social  services, as well as to ensure that food and medicine are not used as tools for  political pressure;    3.  Invites all States to consider adopting administrative or legislative  measures, as appropriate, to counteract the extraterritorial applications or effects of  unilateral coercive measures;    4.  Rejects unilateral coercive measures with all their extraterritorial effects  as tools for political or economic pressure against any country, in particular against  developing countries, because of their negative effects on the realization of all the  human rights of vast sectors of their populations, in particular children, women and  the elderly;    5.  Calls upon Member States that have initiated such measures to commit  themselves to their obligations and responsibilities arising from the international  human rights instruments to which they are party by revoking such measures at the  earliest possible time;    6.  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;    7.  Urges the Commission on Human Rights to take fully into account the  negative impact of unilateral coercive measures, including the enactment of national  laws and their extraterritorial application, in its task concerning the implementation  of the right to development;    8.  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;    9.  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  populations and to submit an analytical report thereon to the General Assembly at its  sixtieth session, highlighting the practical and preventive measures in this respect;    10. Decides to examine the question on a priority basis at its sixtieth session  under the sub-item entitled “Human rights questions, including alternative  approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental  freedoms”.