High-Level Meetings
Between 18 and 26 September 2025, the Special Rapporteur held high-level bilateral and broader meetings with various States and civil society organizations to discuss key issues related to her mandate and to explore ways to strengthen cooperation aimed at ensuring full compliance with human rights obligations.
On 19 May 2025, the Special Rapporteur participated in the Tehran Dialogue Forum, organised in Tehran by the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS). She participated as a speaker in a panel on unilateral sanctions.
On 14 May 2025, the Special Rapporteur participated in the 26th Session of the Intergovernmental Open-ended Working Group on the Right to Development, which was held in Geneva from 12 to 15 May 2025. She was invited as one of the speakers during a session on "Coercive Measures and the Right to Development"
On 25 November 2024, the Special Rapporteur participated in the UN Security Council Arria Formula meeting convened by the Russian Federation. The meeting focused on the humanitarian consequences of unilateral coercive measures and their impact on global humanitarian activities, with key discussions on the challenges posed by secondary sanctions and their violation of international law, stressing the need for political and diplomatic solutions based on international law and global cooperation. (TV Statement by the Special Rapporteur / United Nations Media Recording)
On 31 October and 1 November 2024, the Special Rapporteur participated as a speaker in the “Second Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security”, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus with the participation of high-level representatives from the wider Eurasia and senior officials from international and regional organisations.
On 3 October 2024, the Special Rapporteur met online with the Director-General of the International Labour Organization to discuss issues relevant to her mandate, including with regards to the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on employment and social protection.
On 25 March 2024, the Special Rapporteur briefed the UN Security Council at the Arria-Formula meeting on “The impact of unilateral coercive measures on global counter-terrorism efforts” (statement & video)
On 27 November 2023, the Special Rapporteur participated in a high-level event on the margins of the 20th session of the General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The event focused on “Unilateral Coercive Measures and their Negative Impact on Socio-Economic Development of States” (statement)
On 10 November 2023, the Special Rapporteur participated as a keynote speaker in a high-level side-event on “Consultations on the Effects and Impact of Economic Unilateral Coercive Measures”, organised by South Center, in Geneva
On 6 November 2023, the Special Rapporteur participated in a public hearing organised by the German Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid on the topic of “Worsening food insecurity and water scarcity – causes, consequences and solutions”
On 3 November 2023, the Special Rapporteur participated in the 2023 UN Social Forum, and intervened in the panel on “The Contribution of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in Promoting Equality and Non-Discrimination” (statement & video)
On 30 October 2023, the Special Rapporteur participated in a side-event organised by the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations in New York, during the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. The theme of the event was the “Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Right to Health and Right to Development”
On 21 September 2023, the Special Rapporteur participated in a side-event on the launch of Venezuela’s Geopolitical Map of Sanctions held during the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York
On 14 September 2023, the Special Rapporteur participated as a keynote speaker in the 2023 Biennial Panel Discussion on Unilateral Coercive Measures and Human Rights with the title “The impact of unilateral coercive measures and over-compliance on the right to development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals” (SR’s Statement / Webcast archive)
On 11 and 12 May 2023, the Special Rapporteur participated in the “Global Expert Group Meeting in Support of the Mid-Point Review of SDG7 at the High-Level Political Forum 2023: Ensuring Universal Energy Access and Advancing Just, Inclusive and Equitable Energy Transitions” (Summary of the Meeting)
On 20 October the Special Rapporteur held a meeting with International Crisis Group on unilateral sanctions, secondary sanctions and over-compliance
On 12 October the Special Rapporteur held a meeting with COI Syria
Between 7-10 June 2022, the Special Rapporteur visited Geneva and had a series of meetings with Permanent Mission Ambassadors of Armenia, China, Iran and Syria.
On 22 March, 2022 the Special Rapporteur met with a delegation of UNICEF regarding the adverse impact of sanctions on children.
Between 15–18 March 2022, the Special Rapporteur visited Geneva and had a series of meetings with the Permanent Missions in Geneva. She met bilaterally the Ambassadors and Deputy Permanent Representatives of Syria, China, Brazil, Cuba, Russia, Iran and Zimbabwe.
On 16 March, 2022, the Special Rapporteur had a meeting with the representatives of States of the NAM Group organized and chaired by the Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations in Geneva.
On 8 February 2022, the Special Rapporteur on Unilateral and Coercive Measures held a meeting with the Director General International Fertilizer Association (IFA)
On 7 February 2022, the Special Rapporteur on Unilateral and Coercive Measures held a meeting with the Deputy Director of the Fertilizers Institute
On 26 January 2022, the Special Rapporteur was interviewed by Al Jazeera Media Network regarding humanitarian exemptions on Afghanistan - Resolution 2615 (2021).
On 24 January 2022, the Special Rapporteur held a meeting with the Resident Coordinator, and HR Advisor to the RCHC and UNCT for Syria.
On 14 January 2021, the Special Rapporteur conducted a virtual meeting with the Ambassador of Venezuela to discuss the [Venezuela] country visit.
On 12 January 2022, the Special Rapporteur held a meeting with the Resident Coordinator for Iran.
On 09 September 2021, The Special Rapporteur met with The Sanctions Policy Division and Commission and European External Action Service of the European Union, to raise awareness on issues of overcompliance, extraterritoriality and access to humanitarian aid.
On 06 September 2021, The Special Rapporteur met with His Excellency, Ambassador CHEN Xu, and the Like-Minded Group to provide a courtesy briefing to states on the vision and activities of the mandate.
On 25 May 2021, the Special Rapporteur met with the Counsellor of the Embassy of Cuba in Minsk, to discuss impact of the US sanctions against Cuba.
On 16 April 2021, the Special Rapporteur participated in a virtual meeting with George Lopez HR Expert on the impact of sanctions on human right, to discuss contemporary developments of types and mechanisms of unilateral sanctions, humanitarian impact of unilateral sanctions to the directly and indirectly targeted individuals, feasibility of de-listing and humanitarian exemptions mechanisms, possible cooperation mechanisms between the mandate and other UN organs.
On 6 April 2021, the Special Rapporteur participated in a lecture on the functions of the UN Special Procedures and specifics of functions of the mandate including country visits to Qatar and Venezuela, legal qualification and humanitarian impact of unilateral sanctions to the staff of the National Center of Legislation and Legal research of Belaru
On 15 March 2021, the Special Rapporteur held a meeting with the representatives of non-governmental organizations to discuss impact of unilateral sanctions on the population of Syria.
On 9 March 2021, the Special Rapporteur conducted a meeting with the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights about the situation in Venezuela.
On 26 February 2021, the Special Rapporteur contributed to a UN OHCHR consultancy on the study entitled “the contribution of development to the enjoyment of human rights” (A/HRC/RES/41/19, para. 13).
She also gave an academic talk on “Sanctions and their negative Human Rights implications”, at ESIL, IFHV Bochum university.
On 27 January 2021, the Special Rapporteur briefed the UN High Commission on Human Rights on the issues pertaining to the mandate.
On 20 January 2021, the Special Rapporteur conducted a virtual meeting with the Ambassador of Cuba.
On 10 December 2020, the Special Rapporteur issued a series of guidelines on humanitarian aid and humanitarian response in the course of the pandemic 20.12.2020
On 9 December 2020, the Special Rapporteur delivered a Lecture on the outcomes of Qatar country visits for the academic society.
On 25 November 2020, the Special Rapporteur briefed the UN Security Council at the Virtual Arria meeting on "End Unilateral Coercive Measures Now" (watch UN Web TV here: (Part 1/2) and (Part 2/2)).
On 7 October 2020, the Special Rapporteur attended at the Research meeting organized by the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed conflict, Bochum, Germany, presenting the mandate's position on the humanitarian impact of the US sanctions against judges and officials of the International Criminal Court.
On 19 – 23 October 2020, the Special Rapporteur visited Geneva and had a series of meetings with the Permanent Missions in Geneva. She met bilaterally the Ambassadors and Deputy Permanent Representatives of Qatar, Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Switzerland, Russia, Belarus, China, Singapore, EU, France, Holy See and Australia.
On 22 October, the Special Rapporteur had a meeting with the representatives of sixteen States of the Like-Minded Group organized and chaired by the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations in Geneva.
On 1 November 2020, the Special Rapporteur started her visit Qatar to assess the impact of unilateral sanctions on the enjoyment of human rights. She was in Qatar from 1 to 12 November at the invitation of the Government.
On 12 November 2020, the Special Rapporteur completed her visit to Qatar and presented her end of mission statement to the media in Doha, as well as issued a press release announcing it.
On 18 September 2020, the Special Rapporteur attended an online meeting with the Permanent Missions and Permanent Observer Missions of Non-Aligned Movement's (NAM) Member States, organized by Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan, in its capacity of the Chair of the NAM Geneva Chapter. During the meeting, Ms. Douhan briefed the participants about her mandate, its activities, outreach and plans.
On 7 September 2020, the Special Rapporteur held online meeting with the President of the National Human Rights Committee. During the meeting, Ms. Douhan discussed the modalities of her visit to Qatar in November 2020, provided the restriction are lifted.
On 1 September 2020, the Special Rapporteur held online meeting with the Permanent Representatives of the Republic of Azerbaijan. During the meeting, Ms. Douhan was invited to attend the upcoming meeting of NAM representatives in Geneva, which is scheduled to take place in the mid of September.
On 1 September 2020, the Special Rapporteur held online meeting with the UN Country Team in Minsk, Belarus. During the meeting, Ms. Douhan briefed the members of the Country Team about the mandate, its activities, outreach and plans.
On 12 August 2020, the Special Rapporteur held online meeting with the Permanent Representatives of the Russian Federation.
On 23 June 2020, the Special Rapporteur attended an online supplementary human dimension meeting organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on freedom of expression, the media and information. She gave a presentation on unilateral sanctions and access to information in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 18 June 2020, the Government of Qatar confirmed its invitation to the Special Rapporteur to undertake an official country visit. The visit is planned to take place from 1 to 12 November 2020.
On 17 June 2020, the Special Rapporteur sent a letter to the Chair of the Special Committee on the Charter of the UN and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, and of its Working Group of the Whole, to propose cooperation in areas of mutual interest. These include the impact of sanctions regimes on third countries and the overall transparency of sanctions regimes.
On 4 June 2020, the Special Rapporteur wrote a letter to the Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism to propose cooperation with the Office of Counter-Terrorism. She noted that sanctions implemented to combat terrorism in support of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy might undermine certain goals of the Strategy by contributing to conditions that were conducive to the spread of terrorism and had a negative impact on human rights. On 25 June, the Special Rapporteur held an online meeting with the Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism. They discussed cooperation and the Special Rapporteur's role in implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
On 28 May 2020, the Special Rapporteur sent a letter to the President of the Human Rights Council expressing her deep concern about the fact that there was no reference in the current text of the President's statement on the human rights implications of the COVID-19 pandemic to the need to lift or at least suspend any sanctions impeding trade in or delivery of essential humanitarian goods and commodities, such as medicines, antiviral medication, medical equipment, its component parts and relevant software, personal protective equipment and food. Such an omission undermined, inter alia, the ability of sanctioned States to accomplish their responsibility to protect rights of their people.
On 4 May 2020, the Special Rapporteur sent a questionnaire to all Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva and, on 6 May, she made a call for submissions for her study on the impact of unilateral sanctions on human rights during the state of emergency in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. The Special Rapporteur received responses from, Belarus, Cuba, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Namibia, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, the Syrian Arab Republic, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) and the European Union. Responses were also received from international organizations and civil society actors. The Special Rapporteur expresses her gratitude to all respondents. The study fed into the Special Rapporteur's first thematic report to the General Assembly in October 2020.
On 1 May 2020, the Special Rapporteur issued a human rights guidance note on COVID-19, in which she called, inter alia, to lift or at least suspend any sanctions impeding trade in or delivery of essential humanitarian goods and commodities such as medicines, antiviral medication, medical equipment, its component parts and relevant software, and food. She added that the whole scope of unilateral sanctions should be reviewed and minimized in order to enable sanctioned States to ensure the effective protection of their population from COVID-19, to repair their economy and to guarantee the well-being of their people in the aftermath of the pandemic.
On 30 April 2020, the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela confirmed its previous invitation to the Special Rapporteur to undertake an official visit to the country. The visit was planned to take place from 3 to 14 August 2020 but has been postponed due travel restrictions. Following the agreement with the Government, the new dates for the visit are from 11 to 22 January 2020.
On 22 April 2020, the Special Rapporteur participated in an online meeting of the United Nations special procedures and participated in the preparation of a COVID-19 survey.
The Special Rapporteur held online meetings with the Permanent Representatives of the Syrian Arabic Republic, on 22 April, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, on 24 April and 22 May.
On 21 April 2020, the Special Rapporteur, together with a group of other special rapporteurs and independent experts, transmitted an urgent appeal to the Government of the United States of America concerning the alleged ongoing severe impact of its unilateral economic coercive measures on Cuba and the citizens of Cuba in the context of the unprecedented global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also on 17 April 2020, the Special Rapporteur responded to the letter of welcome from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights by sharing her plans and offering her expertise and technical or practical assistance in support of the High Commissioner's efforts to further prevent the adverse consequences of unilateral coercive measures for multilateralism, international law, the international rule of law, the Charter of the United Nations and human rights.
Link access: High-Level Meetings.