Week of Actions for Human Rights Day: Protest sanctions on Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua

Actions in-person and online from December 1-15, 2024
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Human Rights Day is observed annually around the world on December 10, the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being.

This Human Rights Day, we are horrified that the genocidal terror on Gaza is not only continuing, but spreading throughout the region. We demand that the killing stop! Many people are unaware, however, that thousands of Palestinians were being killed prior to the start of the Gaza war in October of 2023 due to the economic coercive measures (“sanctions”) imposed on them by Israel and the United States. Sanctions prevented the reconstruction and maintenance of crucial infrastructure, severely limiting the availability of clean drinking water and of electricity for hospital services, while the entry of food and medicines was also restricted. 98% of Gaza’s water was unfit for human consumption, causing rampant waterborne illnesses which were responsible for 12% of childhood deaths. Yes, sanctions kill!

The United States is currently imposing such economic coercive measures on 40 countries, accounting for one-third of the world’s population. So, this Human Rights Day, we demand an end to economic coercive measures! Sanctioned countries are insisting on an end to these measures that violate their peoples’ right to development. There is a growing movement to enshrine this right in a convention on the right to development. So, this Human Rights Day, we say: “human rights = right to development.”

We advocate for people-centered human rights, such as the right to education, healthcare, housing, adequate food, clean water and peace — rights that are respected in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. These countries have also taken a principled stance in international fora to stop the genocide underway in Gaza. Regrettably, this has caused them to be further targeted with economic warfare by Israel and the United States. This Human Rights Day, we demand that countries not be punished for upholding international law, and we demand people-centered human rights in the U.S.

This is a project of the Sanctions Kill / Americas Without Sanctions Campaign, International People’s Tribunal Against U.S. Imperialism, Zone of Peace Campaign and Friends of the ATC Nicaragua.

Endorsed by the International US-Cuba Conference Coalition

The Americas Without Sanctions campaign, part of SanctionsKill, raises awareness about the impact of coercive measures on governments in Latin America and the Caribbean that the U.S. has targeted for regime change — Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — and advocates for the removal of those measures.

To endorse this week of actions, email aws@sanctionskill.org.