Skip to main content

UN human rights experts welcome Greek referendum and call for international solidarity

Two United Nations human rights experts today welcomed the holding of a referendum in Greece to decide by democratic process the path to follow to solve the Greek economic crisis without deterioration in the human rights situation.

The UN Independent Experts on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, and on human rights and international solidarity, Virginia Dandan, stressed that there is much more at stake than debt repayment obligations, echoing a warning* issued earlier this month by the UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky.

All human rights institutions and mechanisms should welcome the Greek referendum as an eloquent expression of the self-determination of the Greek people in conformity with article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in pursuance of article 25 ICCPR on public participation. Indeed, a democratic and equitable international order requires participation by all concerned stakeholders in decision-making and respect for due process, which can best be achieved through international solidarity and a human rights approach to the solution of all problems, including financial crises.

It is disappointing that the IMF and the EU have failed to reach a solution that does not require additional retrogressive austerity measures. Some leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the idea of holding a referendum in Greece. Why? Referenda are in the best traditions of democratic governance.

No one can expect the Prime Minister of Greece to renounce the commitments he made to the people who elected him with a clear mandate to negotiate a fair solution that does not dismantle Greek democracy and lead to further unemployment and social misery. Capitulating to an ultimatum imposing further austerity measures on the Greek population would be incompatible with the democratic trust placed on the Greek Prime Minister by the electorate. By nature, every State has the responsibility to protect the welfare of all persons living under its jurisdiction. This encompasses fiscal and budgetary sovereignty and regulatory space which cannot be trumped by outside actors, whether States, inter-governmental organizations or creditors.

Article 103 of the UN Charter stipulates that the Charter provisions prevail over all other treaties, therefore no treaty or loan agreement can force a country to violate the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of its population, nor can a loan agreement negate the sovereignty of a State. Any agreement that would require such a violation of human rights and customary international law is contra bonos mores and hence null and void pursuant to Art. 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

A democratic and equitable international order requires a commercial and financial regime that facilitates the realization of all human rights. Inter-governmental organizations must foster and under no conditions hinder the achievement of the plenitude of human rights.

Foreign debt is no excuse to derogate from or violate human rights or to cause retrogression in contravention of articles 2 and 5 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

In 2013, the Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights stated that the policy austerity measures adopted to secure additional financing from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank had pushed the Greek economy into recession and generally undermined the enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

This is the moment for the international community to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Greece, to respect their democratic will as expressed in a referendum, to proactively help them out of this financial crisis, which finds a major cause in the financial meltdown of 2007-08, for which Greece bears no responsibility.

Indeed, democracy means self-determination, and self-determination often calls for referenda – also in Greece.”

Source:

Comments

  1. Anonymous2/7/15 12:14

    Ωραία όλα αυτά, αλλά ας σημειωθεί ότι η δημοκρατία ήταν ένα πολίτευμα που οι περισσότεροι Έλληνες στοχαστές αποδοκίμαζαν.
    Και για να το δικαιολογήσουμε εν μέρει αυτό γιατί υπάρχουν κι άλλες αιτίες,αναφέρουμε ότι στην δημοκρατία έχει δικαίωμα να ψηφίζει ή να διεκδικεί θέσεις και ο πιο βλάκας

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Τέλεια. Οπότε ας βάλουμε τους "έξυπνους" τραπεζίτες να ψηφίζουν για τα συμφέροντα του "βλάκα" λαού.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2/7/15 16:12

      Αγαπητέ φίλε εγώ δεν υπονόησα κάτι ούτε και αποκάλεσα ΄΄βλάκα΄΄ κανέναν. Τα παραπάνω αναγραφόμενα από εμένα δεν είναι κάποιου είδους προπαγάνδα. Είναι μια γνώμη για την δημοκρατία και ούτε καν λόγια δικά μου, είναι λόγια άλλων που δεν μπορούμε να τους ασκήσουμε κριτική γιατί δεν έχουμε το ΄΄μέγεθός΄΄ τους.
      Πάντως θα δούμε την Κυριακή που μας έρχεται αν η λέξη ΄΄βλάκας΄΄ θα μείνει σε εισαγωγικά ή αυτά θα απαλειφθούν.
      Προσωπικά τάσσομαι υπέρ του ΟΧΙ.

      Delete
  2. Αγαπητέ φίλε, δεν αμφιβάλω για τις προθέσεις σου. Απλά χρησιμποποίησα μια υπερβολή για να δείξω ότι κάποιοι είναι έτοιμοι να εκμεταλλευτούν κάποιες απόψεις για να επιβαλουν πράγματα που ούτε καν θα μας περνούσαν από το μυαλό πριν από 2-3 δεκαετίες.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Operation Mindfuck: The origins of the Illuminati conspiracy fraud and how it became popular in our times

From the new documentary Can 't Get You Out of My Head by Adam Curtis   globinfo freexchange   The first settlers had come from Europe to America to flee from the corruption of power in the Old World. But although they had got away from the old power, they hadn't got away from their suspicious minds, and alone, out in the vast wilderness of the new America, that led them to imagining dark, hidden conspiracies in their own government, far away in Washington.    One of the first of these, in the early 19th century, said that a secret group from Europe, called the Bavarian Illuminati, were running a giant conspiracy in America to destroy the new democracy. In reality, the Illuminati had been a utopian movement who wanted to replace religion with reason. But instead, they now became the first of a series of frightening suspicions that fed off the isolation of the settlers in the New World.    One night (in 1958, somewhere in the vicinity of Whittier, Califo...

US Warships Under Fire: Iran Hits Back & Blasts UAE

MintPress News  "PROJECT FREEDOM." Trump calls it humanitarian aid. We call it what he already admitted it is: piracy. On Friday, Trump boasted that US forces seizing Iranian ships and oil were "sort of like pirates, but we are not playing games."  By Sunday, he had rebranded the blockade as "Project Freedom"—a military escort operation to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Today, that operation went live: 15,000 US troops, guided-missile destroyers, and over 100 aircraft are enforcing American "freedom" at gunpoint. Let's be clear: Washington didn't enter the Strait to defend commerce. It entered to monopolize commerce—to maintain imperial control over the world's oil arteries and strangle Iran's economy.  Iran knows this. That's why closing the Strait and establishing its own transit protocols remains its strongest card in the fight for self-determination. When Trump confessed to piracy, he wasn't joking. He was c...

“Russia & China Preparing For War With The US!”

The Jimmy Dore Show   Colonel Douglas Macgregor explains that as a result of recent military conflicts, Russia, China, and Iran have become allies, and that Beijing and Moscow have concluded that "if we let Iran fail, we're next on the menu" from what he describes as a "rogue state led by a rogue personality," meaning they will intervene to prevent Iran's collapse if the US threatens it. He tells Jimmy Dore that Putin called Trump for an hour and a half to make it clear that a military campaign in Iran would not succeed and would make the situation much worse, offering to store Iran's enriched uranium as a diplomatic gesture. Macgregor warns that if the US restarts the war, China could send 40 or 50 surface combatants and submarines to the Indian Ocean, and Russia could fly MiG-31s into Iranian airspace — not to provoke a direct confrontation but to "make a point." He concludes that the British Empire overreached and overextended with World War...

How 'Liberal' Media Sold You Mass Murder & Genocide

Secular Talk    

Russia & China Now OPENLY Backing Iran!

The Jimmy Dore Show    

A response to misinformation on Nicaragua: it was a coup, not a ‘massacre’

There is so much misinformation in mainstream corporate media about recent events in Nicaragua that it is a pity that Mary Ellsberg’s article for Pulse has added to it with a seemingly leftish critique. Ellsberg claims that recent articles, including from this website, often “ paint a picture of the crisis in Nicaragua that is dangerously misleading. ” Unfortunately, her own article does just that. It looks at the situation entirely from the perspective of those opposing Daniel Ortega’s government while whitewashing their malevolent behavior and downplaying the levels of US support they have relied on. Her piece is an incomplete depiction of what is happening on the ground, ignoring many salient facts that have come to light and which have been outdated by recent events. The following is a brief response to Ellsberg’s main points from someone who lives in Nicaragua and has observed the situation directly and intimately: https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/08/15/a-res...

Billionaires are social distancing in super yachts as tens of millions lose jobs

Everyday, it becomes clearer: the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting poor, working, and marginalized communities the hardest. Millions of workers – especially low-wage retail, food service, hospitality, and care workers – have faced the terrible choice daily between going to work and risking their health, or staying home and risking their paychecks. Many other workers don’t even have that choice, with around 30 million people in the US filing for unemployment in the past six weeks. But billionaires don’t face these same problems. As tens of millions have lost their jobs over the past two months, billionaire wealth soared by a whopping $282 billion between March 18 and April 10, according to a new study from the Institute for Policy Studies.  And while finding enough space to wait out the pandemic is something many struggle with, billionaires have been escaping to their second (or third, or fourth) homes to ride it out in luxury – all while they position themselves to ...

Οι ιδιώτες 'επενδυτές' ως η μόνη επιλογή για ανάκαμψη: άλλο ένα παραμύθι του νεοφιλελέ κατεστημένου

Άλλη μια 'ιερή αγελάδα' της νεοφιλελεύθερης χούντας που κανείς δεν επιτρέπεται ούτε καν να διανοηθεί να αμφισβητήσει του system failure Το Ελληνικό πείραμα διανύει ήδη τον έβδομο χρόνο του με την οικονομία ρημαγμένη και κανένα σημάδι ανάκαμψης στον ορίζοντα. Εκτός από την απόλυτη αποτυχία των νεοφιλελεύθερων πολιτικών που επιβλήθηκαν στην Ελλάδα από την Τρόικα της καταστροφής, έχει ενδιαφέρον κανείς να εξετάσει και τον τρόπο που τα νεοφιλελεύθερα αφηγήματα έχουν επηρεάσει σε μεγάλο βαθμό την κοινή γνώμη, με αποτέλεσμα να καταλήγουν αναπόσπαστο κομμάτι ενός στρεβλού ορθολογισμού μέσα στις κοινωνίες. Η διαδικασία αυτή γίνεται με όχημα, κυρίως, την προπαγάνδα και την πλύση εγκεφάλου από τα ΜΜΕ και το πολιτικό κατεστημένο. Ένα από τα κεντρικά κλισέ των φερέφωνων του νεοφιλελευθερισμού στην Ελλάδα και αλλού αφορά την απόλυτη αναγκαιότητα των ιδιωτών 'επενδυτών' για την ανάκαμψη της οικονομίας. Τα ιδιωτικά κυρίαρχα μίντια και το πολιτικό κατεστημένο κατ...

From Moscow to Beijing: Eye on good neighbors with deep people-to-people ties

CGTN   Russian President Vladimir Putin has wrapped up his state visit to China. The bilateral meeting in Beijing has led to the extension of the 25-year-long Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, with high political mutual trust the backbone. Meanwhile, China and Russia issued a joint statement on promoting a multipolar world and a new type of international relations. What does the China-Russia relationship seriously mean to the two countries and to the world? 

Iran’s Secret Weapon: The Undersea Cables That Could Shake the Global Economy

GVS Deep Dive   Iran’s pressure over the Strait of Hormuz may no longer be limited to oil tankers, naval routes, and energy prices. New reports suggest Tehran is considering control over undersea internet cables passing through Hormuz, potentially requiring permits, fees, Iranian law, and Iranian companies for repair and maintenance. This video breaks down why the Strait of Hormuz is not only an oil chokepoint, but also a digital chokepoint connecting Europe, the Gulf, and Asia. Beneath the waters that carry global energy flows are fiber-optic cables carrying banking data, cloud services, AI traffic, telecom networks, financial messaging, and e-commerce. If Iran turns Hormuz into a digital leverage point, the consequences could reach far beyond the Gulf.