Chair,

I have the honor to deliver a joint statement on behalf of a cross-regional group of 28 member states, namely Antigua and Barbuda, Belarus, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Re-public, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mali, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Russian Federation, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine, Sudan, Uganda, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Zimbabwe, and my own country China.

Today's world is plagued with rampant unilateralism and raging unilateral coercive measures. History has proven that UCMs are one of the culprits for international turbulence and disarray in world order. As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary, the international community must remain clear-headed, strengthen unity and cooperation, and firmly curb and stop such unlawful practices. Developing countries and their populations continue to fall victim to unilateral coercive measures, which violate the principle of sovereign equality and cooperation, intervene in other countries' internal affairs, disregard the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and undermine the foundation of multilateralism and international rule of law.

Chair,

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underscores the equal enjoyment by all states of the development dividends, and strongly urges states to refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations. 

Regrettably, despite the global call to urgently lift UCMs, the imposition of these illegal measures continues to cause devastating, sometimes even life-threatening consequences, to targeted countries and their peoples. UCMs, coupled with secondary sanctions and over-compliance, exacerbate existing humanitarian and economic challenges, gravely affect the stability of the global production and supply chains, as well as food, energy, and financial security, and seriously undermine the world economic order and the efforts of the countries concerned to achieve SDGs.

Moreover, UCMs severely violate the basic human rights, including the right to life, health, development, and education and impede the ability of targeted countries to realize those rights. The Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of UCMs on the enjoyment of human rights for the UN Human Rights Council pointed out unilateral sanctions have led to shortages of health care services, medication, and energy in sanctioned countries, with those in  vulnerable situations such as women, children, and the elderly facing particularly dire circumstances.

We are also concerned that unilateral coercive measures and over-compliance have limited the ability of affected countries to access and acquire foreign investment and technologies, and hindered international cooperation in culture, arts, sports, travel, people-to-people exchanges, and transports, including civil aviation.

Chair,

We welcome the 2025 Ministerial Declaration of the Group of 77 and China on reaffirming that the imposition of coercive economic measures, including unilateral sanctions, against developing countries does not contribute to economic and social development, including dialogue and understanding among countries. We highlight the Non-Aligned Movement's Declarations and Communiques on condemning the promulgation and application of unilateral coercive measures, including those measures used as tools for political or economic and financial pressure against any country, in particular against developing countries.

We recognize the work done by the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of UCMs on the enjoyment of human rights for the UN Human Rights Council and take note of the reports, country visits and statements delivered by the Special Rapporteur.

We reaffirm our opposition to unilateral coercive measures and call on a few Western countries to heed the just calls of the international community, honor their commitments to upholding the UN Charter and international law, and immediately, unconditionally, and completely lift all UCMs. We also call upon Member States, the UN system, and other international organizations to jointly oppose such unlawful practices and help targeted countries mitigate their plight.

The current circumstance calls for solidarity and unity rather than confrontation and division to address global challenges and promote and protect human rights for all.

Thank you, Chair.