Iran Un Envoy: UN Members Reject Veto Power as Unjust and Call For Its Abrogation

October 21, 2000 - 0:0
UNITED NATIONS, New York Iranian Ambassador to UN Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said here on Thursday that the adoption of coercive economic measures falls within the mandate of the international body in situations where there exists a serious threat to international peace and security.
Addressing the 55th UN General Assembly, he said,"Unilateral and extraterritorial sanctions against other countries are inadmissible under international law.
" He added that the UN General Assembly on many occasions has expressed its disapproval of the unilateral and extraterritorial laws enacted by certain states and has found such acts to be in violation of the principles of non-intervention, non-interference in the internal and external affairs of other states, as well as of the exercise of their sovereign rights.
The Iranian permanent representative further said,"The imposition of coercive economic measures and approval of domestic legislation with extraterritorial implications for horizontal escalation of such actions and measures, also contradict established international trade law, including those under WTO regulations." As various forms of economic coercive measures and actions have been imposed against 79 foreign countries in particular developing countries, Nejad-Hosseinian said, the nature of such illegal measures have changed with the passage of time.
"The response to these policies and measures has also intensified at the international level," he said, adding,"The UN Resolutions have invariably stressed the critical need for an equitable, rule-based, secure, non-discriminatory and predictable multilateral trading system.
Elsewhere, the Iranian envoy said that the Commission on Human Rights has also repeatedly reiterated that the application of unilateral human development in the targeted developing countries.
Concluding his remarks, Nejad-Hosseinian referred to Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA), as an obvious example of extraterritorial coercive economic measures which, he said, is against international law.
"It is an illegal instrument which has targeted economic, commercial and financial relations of other countries with the Islamic Republic of Iran. This instrument is also against the declaration on principles of international law concerning friendly relations and cooperation among states'," he said.
(IRNA)