Pope Francis rejects illegal unilateral coercive measures amid COVID-19 pandemic

In the midst of the global spread of COVID-19 and its devastating consequences for humankind, Pope Francis joined the UN and other organizations’ calls, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)’s, for the lifting of unilateral coercive measures. The so-called “sanctions,” warned the Supreme Pontiff on Sunday at the St. Peter’s Basilica, prevent the countries that suffer from them from providing adequate support to their citizens in the light of present circumstances. “Let us ensure that they do not lack basic necessities (all the more difficult to find now that many businesses are closed) such as medicine and especially the possibility of adequate health care. In light of the present circumstances, may international sanctions be relaxed, since these make it difficult for countries on which they have been imposed to provide adequate support to their citizens, and may all nations be put in a position to meet the greatest needs of the moment through the reduction, if not the forgiveness, of the debt burdening the balance sheets of the poorest nations.” urged the Pope. The United Nations, main forum for the world’s political consensus-building, has condemned from its different bodies the imposition of this type of measures. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet have also called for the lifting and reevaluation of the so-called sanctions. Pope Francis’ statement was mentioned on Sunday by Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Jorge Arreaza. “Even the Holy Father requests the relaxation of international sanctions on countries that prevent them from providing adequate support to their citizens, and calls on nations to meet the greatest needs of the moment through the reduction, if not the forgiveness, of the debt burdening,” wrote the Venezuelan foreign affairs minister on his Twitter account @jaarreaza. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has been subjected to a number of unilateral coercive measures by the U.S. government, in a clear violation to international law that protects states from foreign meddling in their internal affairs.