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

Last year saw a record number of legislative efforts to block military actions threatened or carried out by the Trump administration as illegal or unconstitutional. This includes President Trump’s speech decision wage war against Iran. Some of these efforts in Congress have led to closing of votes in the House and Senate.

Now we have legislation introduced in the Senate to “order the withdrawal of the armed forces of the United States from hostilities within or against the Republic of Cuba that have not been authorized by Congress.” It was introduced on March 12 by three Democratic senators, and the same bill was introduced in the House on March 24 by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.).

The hostilities refer to the U.S. blockade that currently prevents most oil from entering Cuba, as explained in the legislation. The main argument is that US military participation in this blockade is unconstitutional unless approved by Congress. This is similar to the constitutional argument contained in other war powers resolutions. But the U.S. blockade against Cuba, combined with the sanctions it imposes, raises additional problems that may be even more overwhelming.

The U.S. government is directly engaged in collective sanctions against the Cuban population, which is well documented. Collective punishment of civilians, when carried out during armed conflict, constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This can be punished as a war crime.

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

Recent events clearly show that the current economic sanctions against Cuba constitute collective punishment.

The cessation of oil shipments to Cuba by the United States had deadly consequences. More than 90% Cuba’s electricity normally relies on oil-based fuels, and hospitals have been particularly hard hit by worsening power outages. The New York Times interviewed doctors there and reported last week, “rapidly deteriorating conditions in hospitals and clinics across Cuba were causing deaths that otherwise could have been avoided.” Fuel shortages are stopping doctors and nurses from working and hospitals are canceling surgeries and delaying children’s vaccinations and life-saving treatments such as kidney dialysis and radiation therapy.

Over time, the damage caused by sanctions shows up in national statistics. An article published in a British pediatric journal earlier this year describe how the strengthening of sanctions against Cuba since 2017 has led to child mortality more than doubling over the last decade. Sanctions have caused shortages of medicine, equipment, fuel, food and electricity, as well as outbreaks of diseases that were previously avoided.

The U.S. government is collectively punishing civilians in dozens of countries through sweeping unilateral economic sanctions. A study published by Lancet Global Health in August that I co-authored, it estimates that 564,000 people die each year because of these sanctions. They are mostly imposed by the United States. It is comparable annual deaths due to armed conflicts around the world.

But these acts of collective punishment generally cannot be prosecuted as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions, because these only apply in cases of armed conflict. UN experts have argued For many years, what has been considered a crime when soldiers shoot and bomb should also be a crime when they do not.

This is where the blockade of Cuba comes into play. This is an armed conflict, as the United States uses 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 reported that the U.S. allow A Russian tanker will deliver oil to Cuba this week, the country’s first oil delivery since January 9. It would take a few weeks to refine and distribute and could last a few weeks once used.

But this does not appear to be a step toward ending U.S. sanctions, or the blockade, against Cuba. And Trump continues to threaten increased military intervention to implement the regime change the U.S. government has sought for more than 60 years. Friday he said of the army: “Sometimes you have to use it. And Cuba comes next, by the way.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is inflicting collective punishment on some of the dozens of countries that rely on Cuba’s international medical missions. For decades, Havana has sent doctors and other medical professionals to other countries to provide care and medical training. In 2016, the program had more than 50,000 healthcare professionals in 67 country. Numerous articles in medical and academic publications tout the success of this program, for example in bringing health care to “unserved and underserved communities” and places “where local doctors will not work,” including isolated rural areas.

Now, Trump is threatening to force these countries to withdraw from Cuban programs, leaving thousands or more without health care. This is a stunningly callous disregard for their lives, and all to punish Cuba, a nation that poses no threat to the security of the United States.

Large-scale economic sanctions are barbaric, like medieval sieges starving a population into surrender. 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 the Lancet Global Health study, approximately 51% of sanctions-related deaths involved children under 5 years old.

Sanctions have become what the US Treasury calls “the tool of first resort” for “national security” issues. This could be because the economic violence that targets civilian violence is less visible than the violence of armed conflicts.

Very few Americans know that unilateral economic sanctions – the vast majority of which are imposed by the United States – claim hundreds of thousands of innocent lives every year. They do not know that these sanctions target the civilian population; their government tells them that sanctions punish “the bad guys.” Although U.S. officials have also repeatedly stated that calm part out strongabout how sanctions can cause suffering and discontent that pushes people into the streets to fight for the regime change Washington wants.

Invoking the Geneva Conventions and prosecuting U.S. officials for sanctions is a possibility in the future, whether in a domestic court, international forum, or other competent venue. But immediately, as more people in the United States, including members of Congress – as well as other countries – understand this deadly economic violence and collective punishment as a war crime, it will become more difficult for the US government to commit these crimes. A similar process has already progressed with last year’s war powers resolutions, and Since 2018.

Trump has generally acted as if he can ignore the law and the Constitution, but that is not sustainable. The Supreme Court decision of February 20 removed much of its power to use customs duties as sanctions and punishments. Among other acts of extortion, it was an important weapon he used to impose the blockade against Cuba. Integrating the Geneva Conventions and their prohibition of war crimes into the fight against deadly economic sanctions can increase the legal and political cost of their application. It will also put perpetrators on notice that they may be held liable.

Marc Weisbrot is co-director of Center for Economic and Political Research and the author of “Failure: what the “experts” got wrong about the global economy.”