Join us for the U.S. Launch of
“The Geopolitical Map of Economic Sanctions” 

Friday, September 22
7pm
The People’s Forum, NYC
RSVP & LiveStream bit.ly/MapSanctions

This important tool was developed by the Anti-Blockade Observatory in Caracas and will be presented by special guests from Venezuela and local organizers – to be announced soon. The event will be an opportunity to learn about the map, its findings, & how our movements, students and researchers can both benefit from as well as contribute to this vital research.

Co-organized by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism, National Lawyers Guild, the New York City Peace Council, Sanctions Kill & the Venezuelan Anti-Blockade Observatory. 

This map provides information on countries around the globe that are impacted by Unilateral Economic Measures (UCMs), often – and mistakenly – referred to as “sanctions”. A key tool of US imperialism, UCMs violate international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law, the norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States, and all the tenets enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

According to public data, corroborated in many instances by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, today, over one third of humanity, in at least 30 countries around the world, is impacted by the criminal application of UCMs, mainly by the United States and the European Union. The impact of UCMs, though, goes far beyond, in light of the extraterritorial implications and the over- compliance phenomena.

“The Geopolitical Map of Economic Sanctions”  was created by the Anti-Blockade Observatory in Caracas, Venezuela. Established in 2020 under the provisions of the Venezuelan Constitutional Anti-Blockade Act for National Development and Ensuring Human Rights, The Anti-Blockade Observatory has been working since at least 2022 on the design of a comprehensive digital platform for researching, collecting and systematising information on UCMs.

Officially launched in July 2023, the Geopolitical Map of Sanctions aims to raise awareness at the global level of the negative impact of UCMs on the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people. This user-friendly platform, which is open to collaboration, also includes bibliography, with relevant academic and news publications. It aims to complement the “Sanctions Research Platform” that was recently launched by the Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact UCMs on the Enjoyment of Human Rights.

The first phase of this project includes data from countries subjected to UCMs, from 5 different regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. The interactive map provides individual fact sheets for each targeted country. The second phase of the project will complement this tool with relevant information from official sources in sanctioned countries, including on their respective national efforts to tackle the negative impact of UCMs.

The ultimate goal is for the map to enable members of the international community, including in the United Nations System, as well as civil society, academia and other relevant institutions, to be able to measure the overall impact of UCMs as these cruel and inhumane measures exacerbate the ongoing global multifaceted crisis.