PRESS RELEASE
Nicaragua Solidarity Ireland calls on the Irish government to end sanctions against any country
Venezuela Ireland Network and Nicaragua Solidarity Ireland have written to the US ambassador and to the acting minister for foreign affairs, Simon Coveney, demanding an end to their imposition of and participation in economic and financial sanctions against any country.
Both the United States and the European Union impose unilateral and—under the charter of the United Nations—illegal sanctions on a large number of countries without regard to the circumstances those countries face at any particular time. In the current crisis, for instance, there is the outrageous contradiction of countries, including Ireland, calling for international co-operation and joint efforts to overcome a serious crisis and at the same time actively and deliberately strangling their economies and making it impossible for them to take effective actions.
Invariably, such sanctions amount to the collective punishment of civilians.
Ironically, and cynically, both the United States and the European Union impose these sanctions under the guise of protecting human rights, when in fact the sanctions always have a negative impact on the human rights of the civilian populations. Ireland is complicit in these breaches of international law by virtue of its membership of the European Union and its slavish support for US foreign policy.
There is one legal mechanism for imposing sanctions against a country. The United Nations Security Council has the power and the right to examine a particular case and, if deemed appropriate, to impose sanctions. Sanctions imposed by any other means must be rejected and opposed for what they are: illegal acts of aggression against civilian populations and attacks on international law.
The solidarity groups call on the Government to use its influence and its neutral status to demand an end to the imposition of illegal sanctions by any country or bloc against other countries.