International sanctions

International sanctions are political and economic decisions that are part of diplomatic efforts by countries, multilateral or regional organizations against states or organizations either to protect national security interests, or to protect international law, and defend against threats to international peace and security.[1][2][3][4] These decisions principally include the temporary imposition on a target of economic, trade, diplomatic, cultural or other restrictions (sanctions measures) that are lifted when the motivating security concerns no longer apply, or when no new threats have arisen.

According to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, only the UN Security Council has a mandate by the international community to apply sanctions (Article 41) that must be complied with by all UN member states (Article 2,2). They serve as the international community's most powerful peaceful means to prevent threats to international peace and security or to settle them. Sanctions do not include the use of military force. However, if sanctions do not lead to the diplomatic settlement of a conflict, the use of force can be authorized by the Security Council separately under Article 42.

UN sanctions should not be confused with unilateral sanctions that are imposed by individual countries in furtherance of their strategic interests.[5] Typically intended as strong economic coercion, measures applied under unilateral sanctions can range between coercive diplomatic efforts, economic warfare, or as preludes to war.

For the first 45 years of the United Nations' history, sanctions were only imposed twice: once against Rhodesia in 1966 and then against South Africa in 1977.[6][7] From 1991, there was a sharp increase in their usage.[8] The UN voted for sanctions twelve times in the 1990s alone.[9] According to Thomas G. Weiss, the soar in sanctions can be attributed to the shift in attitudes as a consequence of the end of the Cold War, where there was a "newfound willingness" from UN member nations to "intrude in issues that were once off-limits".[7]

  1. ^ Hufbauer, Gary (2007). Economic Sanctions Reconsidered. Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics. pp. 5. ISBN 978-088132-407-5.
  2. ^ Cortright, David (2000). The sanctions decade : assessing UN strategies in the 1990s. Lopez, George A. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 1. ISBN 1555878911. OCLC 43115210.
  3. ^ "Sanctions policy". European External Action Service.
  4. ^ "Assembly of the African Union Fourteenth Ordinary Session". African Union.
  5. ^ Enrico, Carisch (2017). The evolution of UN sanctions : from a tool of warfare to a tool of peace, security and human rights. Rickard-Martin, Loraine,, Meister, Shawna R. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. pp. 454 ff. ISBN 9783319600048. OCLC 1008962905.
  6. ^ Cortright, David; Lopez, George (2000). The Sanctions Decade. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 9781555878672.
  7. ^ a b Weiss, Thomas G. (1999). "Sanctions as a Foreign Policy Tool: Weighing Humanitarian Impulses". Journal of Peace Research. 36 (5): 499–509. doi:10.1177/0022343399036005001. ISSN 0022-3433. JSTOR 424530.
  8. ^ Hufbauer, Gary, Jeffrey Schott, Kimberly Elliott, and Barbara Oegg. (2007) Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, 3rd edn. Washington: Institute for International Economics.
  9. ^ Drezner, Daniel W. (2011). "Sanctions Sometimes Smart: Targeted Sanctions in Theory and Practice". International Studies Review. 13 (1): 96–108. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2486.2010.01001.x. ISSN 1521-9488. JSTOR 23016144.