Time for putting an end to economic punishment policies adopted by some Security Council member states: al-Jaafari

NEW YORK, (ST)- Syria will continue supporting the steadfastness of the Cuban people and government in the face of the unjust blockade imposed by the united States on the Cubans since 1962, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar al-Jaafari has affirmed.

In a statement on Wednesday at the UN General Assembly session on “the need to end the US economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba”, al-Jaafari reiterated that condemning this siege is no longer enough in the light the escalation policies adopted by the current US government which are based on tightening the siege so that its impacts extend to beyond Cuba’s borders.

He emphasized that it is time for putting an end to economic punishment policies adopted by some Security Council member states against other sovereign countries.

He stressed that Syria fully backs the UN General Assembly’s draft resolution on the US siege on Cuba which reflects the UN’s clear rejection of unilateral coercive economic measures, given the fact that these measures are considered as a collective punishment of peoples and they undermine the UN system, affect its powers, hamper the achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, violate people’s right to development and damage international trade relations.

 Al-Jaafri criticized the recently adopted US procedures which are based on the third article of the so-called Helms–Burton Act which allows the adoption of US judicial measures against Cuban companies and individuals and on the countries that have trade activities in Cuba.

 He also denounced Washington’s recent aggressive measures that deprive the Cuban people from getting energy and fuel by imposing sanctions on every party or individual that facilitate the delivery of fuel and energy materials to the Cubans.

He called for implementing the UN resolutions that seek justice to victims of the US coercive measures.

The senior Syrian diplomat went on to say that the Syrian and Cuban people are experiencing the same suffering. He made it clear that the  Syrian people have been suffering for years from the dangerous repercussions of the unilateral coercive economic measures imposed on them by the United States and other governments and which reached unprecedented level because their destructive impacts on economy and development were accompanied by the grave impacts of the terrorist war on the country and with some governments attempts to hamper Syria’s reconstruction and recovery and hinder the return of the displaced Syrians.

Hamda Mustafa