The Developing Countries That Still Struggle Under The Yoke Of Western Sanctions

At present, more than 20 countries - most of which have been accused of human rights violations - fall under sanctions which have been imposed by the US and EU.

Western sanctions seem to have become a lever of influence on countries whose policies run counter to the interests of western nations.

Back in June, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said that leaders of European countries view sanctions as a tool "against any objectionable state which, sooner or later, can affect everyone, including the members of the European Union and European companies".

Coupled with this, experts from the UN and poverty-fighting organizations link western sanctions with rising poverty and say their excessive use can actually lead to human rights violations being committed in the sanctioned countries.

Observers have noted that an increasing number of sanctions have been imposed on developing countries, thus hindering their development. What the experts find particularly alarming is their belief that, in some instances, these sanctions are designed to provoke unrest.

Recently, Zimbabwe's Presiden Emmerson Mnangagwa claimed that the initial aim of restrictions imposed on his country by the West was to "install a puppet government".

Sanctions are often imposed unilaterally and in many cases have not even been approved by the UN Security Council. However, despite criticism from UN organizations and the world in general, they are still frequently used.

What follows is a list compiled by Sputnik of the countries suffering under the burden of sanctions.

US sanctions against Cuba, one of the longest-running campaigns, were first imposed in 1962, under the pretext of Caribbean country’s "alignment with communist powers". The sanctions included an embargo on trade between the US and Cuba.

According to Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, the total cost to Cuba of US sanctions has exceeded $154Bln over 60 years, $6.3Bln of which has been lost during Joe Biden's presidency alone.

Over the years, the US has imposed a slew of new anti-Cuban sanctions, with the US embargo being proclaimed by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel as "genocidal".

In 2021, Cuba joined North Korea, Iran and Syria in being designated a "state sponsor of terrorism", which means a number of further restrictions were imposed and it was no longer liable for US foreign assistance. However, some high-ranking officials in the US, including Fulton Armstrong - a former national intelligence officer for Latin America - and Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to Colin Powell when he was Secretary of State in George W Bush's administration, described the move as “bogus” and “a fiction”.

In late September, in the face of a growing global food and fuel crisis, delegates from the UN General Assembly advocated that the embargo on Cuba be immediately lifted, calling it "cruel, inhuman and punitive".

Speaking at a UN General Assembly meeting last week, Caribbean countries argued that the US blockade affects not only Cuba but the entire region, and called for it to be lifted.

Nor have African leaders been exempt from the problem: the Gabonese representative in particular said that "no country should be punished and exploited by another". With this in mind, he highlighted Cuba's peacefulness and willingness to be cooperative.

Zimbabwe was first subjected to sanctions by the US in 2001 and by the EU in 2002. The US was reacting to a program to redistribute land from white farmers to blacks in an attempt to shake off the country's colonial legacy. The EU issued sanctions against the African country, accusing it of "violence, intimidation of political opponents and harassment of the independent media".

The list of sanctions against Zimbabwe include a ban on the transfer of defense items and services, suspension of government-to-government assistance and financial restrictions applied to certain individuals.

As a result of the sanctions regime, ordinary Zimbabweans, according to the testimonies of several eyewitnesses published in the media over the years, have lost access to certain payment systems, such as PayPal, which hinders their ability to receive payments from overseas or to pay for their children's education if they study abroad - even in another African country.

Zimbabwe's government has repeatedly expressed its view that the sanctions are unwarranted and the country's president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, speaking at the 77th Session of the General Assembly of the UN in late September, called for the “immediate and unconditional removal” of western restrictions, dubbing them "illegal".

Zimbabwe's authorities has also argued that the sanctions had a deleterious effect on the country’s economy, and foreign experts admitted that restrictions have cut ordinary people off from their basic rights.

According Jacob Mudenda, Speaker of Zimbabwe's National Assembly, western sanctions against the African country's key farms and agricultural companies have led to "poor production since the early 2000s, especially regarding cereals such as maize, sorghum, millet and others". This means that western sanctions, along with environmental hazards, have undermined food security in the country.

The speaker also said that unilateral sanctions contributed to "the deterioration of the water and sanitation infrastructure", sabotaging the country's water security. Limited access to clean water "accelerated disease epidemics, such as cholera and typhoid (notably in 2008 and 2018) with an estimated combined death toll of more than 3,000 people, and has put more than 100,000 people at risk".

In addition to this, the UN Special Rapporteur Dr Alena Douhan pointed out that anti-Zimbabwean sanctions are "illegal", and contradict international law, including the UN Charter.

It's also notable that in late October South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa urged the West to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe, saying that because of the harm they caused Zimbabwe's economy, "Zimbabweans are forced to migrate" to other countries, including South Africa.

In 2005, the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela, and a number of other countries followed suit, including Canada, the European Union, Mexico, Panama and Switzerland.

Initially, sanctions were imposed under the pretext of the Venezuelan government's refusal to participate in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.

In 2015 another round of sanctions was imposed because of allegations of human rights violations. The White House closed Venezuela's access to American financial markets and the Central Bank's access to the dollar and international transactions.

New sanctions, including a ban on dealing with Venezuelan public debt and doing business with the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), came after Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro won the election 2018. The US and EU refused to recognize the election results and supported opposition leader Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself the new head of state.

The UN admitted that US economic sanctions weakened Venezuelan citizens, rather than the political elites. External economic sanctions, among other things, explain why nearly 80 percent of Venezuela's population lives in poverty, per the report.

Moreover, according to the UN, the sanctions, by decreasing imports, have made it more difficult for people to obtain basic necessities such as food and medicine.

The country's president, Maduro, has constantly called for an end to "all unilateral coercive measures, all the alleged sanctions, and that they allow our people to exercise their own rights".

Critics of the sanctions characterize their effect as increasing the country's rates of disease and death, widespread famine, migration crisis, and an acceleration of the country's economic problems.

Iran was first hit by US sanctions back in 1979, after the Islamic Revolution and overthrow of the pro-western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

In 1984, Iran was judged by the US to be a "state sponsor of terrorism", which was accompanied by additional economic sanctions.

In 2006, the Middle Eastern country was sanctioned for implementing its uranium enrichment program. Sanctions involved a ban investing in Iranian oil, gas petrochemicals, as well as a blockade of Iranian oil products, banking and insurance operations, shipping and others.

In 2015, the UK, Germany, China, Russia, the US, France, and Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program, whereby sanctions would be lifted in exchange for the limitation of Iran's nuclear program.

The new wave of anti-Iranian sanctions began after the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and Iran no longer felt bound by the plan's terms. Restrictions on investing in the development of Iran’s oil and gas fields, advanced conventional weaponry, participation in uranium mining ventures, and transporting Iranian crude oil were among reinstated measures.

Sanctions against Iran worsen the existing humanitarian and economic crises in the country and negatively affect the lives of ordinary people, particularly the most vulnerable, the UN's human rights expert Alena Douhan pointed out.

In particular, this May she expressed grave concerns that foreign companies were unwilling to supply Iran with specialized medicines and medical equipment, resulting in a dire shortage of treatments and she explained that this situation was often caused by sanctions.

An international, independent organization 'Doctors without borders' (MSF) has also said that US sanctions are "detrimental to the health of people in Iran", offering its help to the Iranian people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US first issued sanctions against Syria in 1979, when the Middle Eastern country was put on a list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. The country was cut off from US foreign assistance, and faced a number of bans.

As the years went by, the anti-Syrian sanctions increased.

In 2011, the Syrian government was accused by the US of repressing its civilian population, after internal conflict broke out in the nation. The range of sanctions included a ban on oil imports, and the freezing of the assets of Syria’s Central Bank held in the EU.

The UN condemned the unilateral US sanctions, saying they run “roughshod over human rights, including the Syrian people's rights to housing, health, and an adequate standard of living and development”.

However, not only has the US refused to lift the sanctions but has imposed several more. According to BMJ Global Health research, sanctions against Syria have taken a severe turn since the 'Caesar' sanctions came into effect in 2020.

These sanctions were imposed over allegations that the Syrian government and its allies - Russia and Iran - had committed "crimes" during the decade-long Syrian conflict. In practice, they prevent any foreign investors from doing business with the Syrian government on pain of facing secondary sanctions.

The 'Caesar' sanctions in effect eliminate any possibility that the country and its economy will undergo any post-war reconstruction because they have what experts call a "chilling effect" - deterring companies from trading and supplying even permissible goods for fear of violating US and EU rules. As a result, Syrian civilians lack food and medicines.

The latest increase in measures came after Damascus supported Russia's special operation in Ukraine. According to Syria's Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad, the tightening of sanctions “seems to be real economic terrorism against Syria".

Afghanistan is another country heavily burdened by western sanctions which have been in place since 1999. The initial sanctions were aimed at Osama Bin Laden and members of Al-Qaeda* and have been intensified since 9/11, under a resolution targeting the Taliban**, over accusations of terrorism.

In 2021, after the US left the country after 20 years and the Taliban took power, the UN issued sanctions against the country’s new government.

Because of the sanctions, many banks and other financial institutions outside Afghanistan have restricted or blocked the processing of most transactions involving Afghan bank accounts, fearing fines or prosecution from US authorities. In addition, The US has frozen the Afghan government's reserves, mostly held in US bank accounts.

At present, the Central Bank of Afghanistan remains cut off from the international banking mechanism and is unable to access its assets in foreign accounts because the US and other central banks - as well as the World Bank - continue to refuse to recognize the bona fides of any the current bunch of bank officials.

Meanwhile, about 20Mln people in Afghanistan - about half its population - are in dire need of food assistance, the World Food Program says.

Afghanistan's interim foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi confirmed the sanction-poverty, saying "our economic system is under US economic sanctions and this has created a fundamental cause of poverty in the country".

Commenting on the situation in Afghanistan, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that in "an extremely difficult humanitarian situation", caused, among other things, by the US's "failed military campaign", Washington's sanctions continue to "exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan".