Belarus’ representative to UN explained how sanctions against Belarusian potash industry affected crop yields in Africa
A significant decrease in crop yields in Africa is a direct consequence of the sanctions against Belarusian potash fertilisers, which account for almost a third of world exports – as stated by Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations Valentin Rybakov in his speech at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. According to the diplomat, those who impose unilateral sanctions condemn millions of people in the countries of the Global South to starvation.
Mr. Rybakov stressed that the statements of the United States and the European Union that their unilateral sanctions do not apply to potash fertilisers are a lie, “The UN cannot force states to lift their unilateral sanctions, but it has always been and remains a kind of ‘moral compass’ in relation to illegal unilateral sanctions,” the diplomat underlined. “The UN Secretary General, the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, the International Fund for Children, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights are calling for their removal, as well as hundreds of experts and researchers on the subject of unilateral coercive measures around the world.”
As Belarus’ representative noted, the initiators of unilateral sanctions cannot be unaware of the consequences of the introduction of these measures, which violate all conceivable norms of international law and all human rights, being aimed solely at undermining the independent foreign policy of individual countries.
“There are no so-called smart sanctions. Any illegal economic sanctions are aimed at strangling and destroying the country’s economy, which means worsening people’s living standards,” Mr. Rybakov stated. “Sanctions have an impact primarily on the most vulnerable citizens, but at the same time affect to varying degrees the entire population of the countries against which they are introduced. The impact of sanctions has quite tangible forms: a decrease in people’s life expectancy, a decrease in per capita income, and an increase in the poverty gap.”
