On December 4, the UN will hold the first annual International Day against Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCMs), essentially declaring Western sanctions on Iran, Russia, and North Korea to be violating international law.
Resolution 79/293, “Elimination of unilateral extraterritorial coercive economic measures as a means of political and economic compulsion,” was adopted by the UN General Assembly on June 16, 2025.
Among some of the sponsors of the resolution were Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and China, all renowned for their human rights violations.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, the term “unilateral coercive measures” usually refers to economic measures taken by one state to compel a change in the policy of another state, such as trade sanctions in the form of embargoes, asset freezing, and travel bans.
The UN considers these to be contrary to international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It also sees such “coercive” measures as having a negative impact on the full enjoyment of human rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“The resolution urges states once again to refrain from adopting, promulgating, and applying any unilateral economic, financial, or trade measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede or in any other manner undermine the full achievement of economic and social development, particularly in developing countries,” the UN announced.
UN General Assembly proclaims Day Against Western sanctions
Following the adoption of the resolution in June, the General Assembly proclaimed December 4 as the International Day against Unilateral Coercive Measures.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, which cosponsored the resolution, demanded the UN pressure Israel over its “flagrant violations” of international law during a speech at the 80th Session of the General Assembly in October.
“We highlight the need to enhance global awareness on the legal consequences as well as the negative impacts of unilateral coercive measures, among others, on the enjoyment of human rights,” Iranian representative Yahya Aref told the UNGA.
He praised Resolution 79/293, telling the assembly that unilateral coercive measures “have serious negative humanitarian impacts, including by impeding the access of affected populations to medicine, medical services, and equipment and other essential commodities, and [we] further express our serious concerns that unilateral coercive measures have inflicted and continue to inflict severe conditions of life upon the whole population of targeted states and violate and deprive them of, among others, the right to life and the right to health.”
He then called on the UN Security Council to impose effective sanctions against Israel over its “aggression, terrorism, and other heinous crimes committed in the region and beyond.”
The resolution was praised by Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, who said his country had been subjected to unilateral coercive measures from the US, affecting his country’s oil industry. The resolution was also welcomed by the ambassadors of Zimbabwe and Eritrea.
EARLIER THIS month, Alena Douhan, the UN’s special rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, highlighted the poor conditions in Cuba, including “shortages of essential machinery, spare parts, electricity, water, fuel, food, and medicine,” and called for an end to the US embargo.
“For over 60 years, the United States has maintained an extensive regime of economic, trade, and financial restrictions against Cuba, the longest-running unilateral sanctions policy in US foreign relations... As a result, generations of Cubans have lived under unilateral coercive measures, which have shaped the country’s economic and social landscape,” she said.
Anne Herzberg, legal advisor and UN representative for NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that the establishment of an official day at the UN to condemn Western sanctions is “sadly not surprising.”
“For years, the UNGA has passed a resolution attacking the US embargo policy against Cuba, and in 2014, the Human Rights Council appointed a special rapporteur on ‘unilateral coercive measures’ to lobby against Western sanctions policies for Venezuela, Iran, Zimbabwe, China, Russia, and other dictatorships,” she said. “Moreover, the current rapporteur is from Belarus, an authoritarian country extremely friendly to the Putin regime.
"Moreover, the current Rapporteur is from Belarus, an authoritarian country extremely friendly to the Putin regime.
“This latest stunt by the UNGA is yet more evidence of how the UN exploits taxpayer funds to finance measures in support of dictators and hostile to Western interests.”
Hillel Neuer of UN Watch called it an “Orwellian assault” and accused Douhan of waging propaganda on behalf of the sanctioned regimes of China, Russia, Qatar, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
What are the UCMs imposed on some of the above countries, and why?
MULTIPLE UCMS have been imposed on China due to its reported human rights violations. These UCMs have mainly come from the US, EU, UK, and Canada and include targeted sanctions on officials and entities linked to Xinjiang abuses, export controls on surveillance tech and advanced semiconductors, and restrictions on Xinjiang cotton, tomatoes, and forced-labor-linked goods.
This is due to the oppressive treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, including arbitrary detention and surveillance.
Other UCMs on China result from its restrictions on freedoms of expression, crackdown in Hong Kong, and repression in Tibet.
A UN commission of inquiry and various NGOs have reported on mass human rights violations in North Korea, including political prison camps (Kwan-li-so) with torture, starvation, and forced labor; state control; collective punishment; and food restrictions.
The US, Japan, South Korea, and the EU have imposed UCMs, including financial sanctions on banks and officials and aircraft and shipping restrictions.
Iran is notorious for its extreme violations of human rights, particularly its detention and extrajudicial killings of protesters. It is also known for its crackdowns on women’s rights, especially after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, and its persecution of minorities (Baha’i, Kurdish, and Baluchi).
The US has applied extensive UCMs to Iran, including on individuals themselves, as well as designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, comprehensive sanctions on banking, oil, shipping, and aviation, and restrictions on technology and arms exports.
Multiple UCMs exist in relation to Cuba, including a mass trade embargo from the US, restrictions on US travel, and sanctions on Cuban companies. These are in reaction to reported human rights violations in Cuba, including the arrests of dissidents, internet censorship, and restrictions on freedom of expression.
A UN Human Rights Council Fact Finding Mission concluded that extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detention by security forces are prolific in Venezuela, often as a means of repression of political opposition. It also remarked on the humanitarian crisis and restrictions on media, civil society, and electoral freedoms.
The US, Canada, and the EU have imposed targeted sanctions on Venezuelan officials (such as travel and asset freezes), and the US continues to sanction Venezuela’s oil sector, central bank, and state companies.
Research from the UN, Chatham House, and other bodies tends to find that UCMs have very strong economic impacts on the target country but rarely achieve political goals (such as regime change) and, in fact, in some cases, can lead to strengthened authoritarian governments that use the sanctions as an excuse for further crackdowns (such as in Cuba). Targeted sanctions on individuals have been found to be more effective than those on a country as a whole.