Contributor: U.S. sanctions to hurt Cuban civilians violate the Geneva Conventions

Last year, a record number of legislative efforts were made to block military actions threatened or carried out by the Trump administration that were deemed illegal or unconstitutional. This includes President Trump. decision Going to war against Iran. Some of these efforts in Congress led to: Close vote in House and Senate.

We now have legislation introduced in the Senate to “direct the removal of the Armed Forces of the United States from hostilities not authorized by Congress within or against the Republic of Cuba.” It was introduced by three Democratic senators on March 12, and the same legislation was introduced to the House of Representatives on March 24 by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.).

As the legislation explains, the hostilities refer to the US blockade that currently keeps most of the oil away from Cuba. The main argument is that U.S. military participation in this blockade is unconstitutional unless approved by Congress. This is similar to the constitutional argument in other war powers decisions. However, when the US blockade of Cuba is combined with the sanctions it imposes, additional problems that could be even more devastating arise.

The US government is directly engaged in the well-documented mass punishment of the Cuban people. Collective punishment of civilians during armed conflict constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. It can be punished as a war crime.

The Geneva Conventions are among the most widely accepted bodies of international law. adopted by all countries.

It is easy to see from recent events that current economic sanctions against Cuba constitute collective punishment.

The US cut off oil shipments to Cuba had fatal consequences. more than that 90% Much of Cuba’s electricity normally relies on petroleum-based fuel, and hospitals have been particularly hard hit as power outages worsen. The New York Times interviewed doctors there and reported “Rapidly deteriorating conditions in Cuban hospitals and clinics were causing otherwise preventable deaths,” last week. Fuel shortages are keeping doctors and nurses away from work, and hospitals are canceling surgeries and delaying vaccinations for children as well as life-saving treatments such as kidney dialysis and radiation therapy.

Over time, the damage from sanctions shows up in national statistics. An article published in a British pediatric journal earlier this year explains The tightening of sanctions on Cuba since 2017 has caused infant deaths to more than double in the past decade. Sanctions have led to shortages of medicine, equipment, fuel, food and electricity, as well as the emergence of previously prevented diseases.

The U.S. government is collectively punishing civilians in dozens of countries by imposing broad, unilateral economic sanctions. a study It was published A report I co-authored by Lancet Global Health in August estimated that 564,000 people died annually as a result of these sanctions. They are mostly imposed by the United States. This comparable to annual deaths from armed conflict around the world.

But these acts of collective punishment generally cannot be prosecuted as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions because the conventions only apply when there is armed conflict. UN experts defended Something that has been considered a crime for years when soldiers are shooting or bombing should also be a crime when it is not.

This is where the Cuban blockade comes into play. This is an armed conflict because the US is using military force to maintain the blockade. This means that the current collective punishment of Cuban civilians legally constitutes a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

On Sunday, the New York Times, US to give permission A Russian tanker will carry oil to Cuba this week; this was the country’s first oil delivery since then. 9 January. It takes several weeks to develop and deploy, and may take several weeks once it’s live.

However, this does not appear to be a step towards ending US sanctions or blockade of Cuba. And Trump continues to threaten to step up military intervention to achieve the regime change the US government has been pursuing for more than 60 years. on friday that in question of the military: “Sometimes you have to use it. And every now and then there’s Cuba.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is imposing collective penalties on some of the dozens of countries that rely on Cuba’s international medical missions. For decades, Havana has been sending doctors and other health professionals to other countries to provide medical care and education. In 2016, the program had more than 50,000 healthcare professionals in 67 countries. countries. There are many articles in medical and academic publications praising the success of this program; for example to bring Health care to “unserved and underserved communities” and places “where local doctors will not work,” including remote rural areas.

Now Trump is threatening to force these countries to withdraw from their Cuban programs, leaving thousands or more people without healthcare. This is a stunningly callous disregard for their lives, and it’s all to punish Cuba, a country that poses no security threat to the United States.

Broad economic sanctions are as barbaric as medieval sieges starving a population into submission. Instead of iron and fire, today’s lethal weapons are computers deployed throughout the international financial system dominated by the United States and its currency.

These sanctions disproportionately cost the lives of babies and children. According to a Lancet Global Health study, an estimated 51% of those who died as a result of sanctions were children under 5 years old.

Sanctions have become the job of the US Treasury calls “The go-to tool” for “national security issues.” This is because economic violence goals civilians are less conspicuous than the violence of armed conflict.

Few Americans know that unilateral economic sanctions, largely imposed by the United States, cost hundreds of thousands of innocent lives each year. They do not know that these sanctions target the civilian population; their governments tell them sanctions punish the “bad guys.” Although US officials have repeatedly expressed silence piece outside loudIt’s about how sanctions can lead to bitterness and discontent that bring people to the streets to fight for the regime change that Washington seeks.

In the future, it will be possible to invoke the Geneva Conventions and prosecute American officials for sanctions, whether in a national court, an international forum, or elsewhere with jurisdiction. But soon, as more people in the United States, including members of Congress and other countries, understand this deadly economic violence and collective punishment as a war crime, it will become more difficult for the U.S. government to commit these crimes. A similar process is already underway with last year’s war powers decisions, and since then 2018.

Trump has generally acted as if he could ignore the law and the Constitution, but this is not sustainable. Supreme Court decision February 20 stripped him of much of his authority to use tariffs as sanctions and penalties. Along with other acts of usurpation, this was an important weapon he used to enforce the blockade of Cuba. Incorporating the Geneva Conventions and their prohibition of war crimes into the fight against lethal economic sanctions could increase the legal and political costs of enforcing them. They will also be informed that perpetrators may be held accountable.

Mark Weisbrot is co-director Center for Economic and Policy Research and “author”Failed: What ‘Experts’ Got Wrong About the Global Economy.”