Sanctions (law)
Sanctions in law refer to economic penalties imposed by one or more countries against another nation, government entity, group, or individual. These measures are often a response to political and social issues, such as human rights violations or aggressive foreign policies. Common types of sanctions include trade restrictions like tariffs and embargoes, asset freezes, travel bans, and financial transaction limitations. While sanctions aim to compel a change in behavior or policy, their effectiveness is a subject of debate among experts. Proponents argue that targeted sanctions with specific, achievable goals tend to be more successful, especially when supported by multiple nations. Conversely, broader sanctions aimed at regime change frequently fail to achieve their objectives and can disproportionately harm the civilian population, as evidenced by past sanctions such as those imposed on Iraq in the 1990s. Sanctions can be unilateral, as seen in the U.S. embargo against Cuba, or multilateral, like those enforced by the United Nations against North Korea. Overall, the complex dynamics of sanctions reflect a delicate balance between enforcing policy changes and mitigating humanitarian impacts.
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Sanctions (law)
A sanction is an economic penalty that one or more countries applies against another country, government body, group, or individual. Sanctions are often employed for a variety of reasons and are usually related to political and social issues. Common reasons for sanctions include penalizing countries that perpetrate human rights violations, retaliation for another country’s sanctions, and pressuring countries into changing their political regime. Examples of sanctions include tariffs, trade barriers, travel bans, asset freezes, foreign aid reductions, financial transaction restrictions, and embargos. Experts are uncertain about the effectiveness of sanctions, however.
Overview
Many countries use sanctions as a mechanism of foreign policy, usually in response to a foreign threat or as a means of protest against an oppressive government. Sanctions are designed to coerce a nation to alter problematic policies, whether these policies impact the nation imposing the sanction or the sanctioned nation’s own people. Sanctions are often invoked in relation to trade policies. Such sanctions can have detrimental effects on the economy of the nation being sanctioned.
The two main types of sanctions are trade sanctions and asset freezes/seizures. Trade sanctions include payments levied on imported and exported goods, quotas limiting the amount of a product that can be traded between countries, and embargoes that prohibit the supply of goods and services from one country to another. Trade sanctions can also be used to prevent the exchange of technology, materials, and information to deter the development of weapons and other threatening technologies. Asset freezes/seizures prevent the use of assets by a country or an individual, as well as the sale or movement of these assets. Such freezes/seizures can apply to goods and services or financial holdings, such as bank accounts.
Sanctions can be issued by a single nation, but sanctions are more often issued by a group of nations acting in solidarity against a specific nation. An example of a single nation imposing sanctions includes the United States’s issuance of a series of trade embargoes on Cuba in the 1960s as an act against Fidel Castro’s oppressive regime. An example of a multilateral sanction includes the United Nations (UN) Security Council’s decision to impose a number of sanctions against North Korea since 2006 when it learned that the country was trying to develop nuclear weapons. In the United States, sanctions are usually determined by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Other agencies involved in the issuance of US sanctions include the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) as well as the State Department.
Experts are divided on the effectiveness of sanctions, mainly because they find it difficult to gauge whether or not they work. Those who support the use of sanctions emphasize the need for targeted sanctions with attainable goals that receive multilateral support from other nations. Studies have supported these factors, showing that sanctions work best when the goals are narrow and modest. An example of an often successful sanctioning goal is the release of political prisoners. However, the broader the goal of the sanction, the less likely it will succeed. Used as a tool to alter military operations or encourage a change of regime, sanctions have fared much more poorly throughout history. Opponents of sanctions argue that they negatively impact the poor or suffering citizens of a country more so than the government at which they are directed. An example includes the UN sanctions against Iraq when it was ruled by Saddam Hussein in the 1990s and early 2000s. These sanctions caused a major blow to Iraq’s economy, impacting its citizens more than its oppressive regime.
Bibliography
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Davenport, Kelsey. “UN Security Council Resolutions on North Korea.” Arms Control Association, Jan. 2018, www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/UN-Security-Council-Resolutions-on-North-Korea. Accessed 12 Aug. 2019.
Flock, Elizabeth. “Cuba Trade Embargo Turns 50: Still No Rum or Cigars, Though Some Freedom in Travel.” 2 Feb. 2012, Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/cuba-trade-embargo-turns-50-still-no-rum-or-cigars-though-some-freedom-in-travel/2012/02/07/gIQAKaYfwQ‗blog.html. Accessed 12 Aug. 2019.
“Iraq-Related Sanctions.” U.S. Department of the Treasury, www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/pages/iraq.aspx. Accessed 12 Aug. 2019.
Koloskin, Barry. “Examples of Sanctions in International Relations.” ThoughtCo, 25 May 2019, www.thoughtco.com/what-are-sanctions-3310373. Accessed 12 Aug. 2019.
Masters, Jonathan. “What Are Economic Sanctions?” Council on Foreign Relations, 7 Aug. 2017, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-are-economic-sanctions. Accessed 12 Aug. 2019.
“Sanctions Programs and Country Information.” U.S. Department of the Treasury, www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/Programs.aspx. Accessed 12 Aug. 2019.
“What Are Sanctions, and Do They Work?” Huffington Post, 7 Sept. 2016, www.huffpost.com/entry/what-are-sanctions-and-do‗b‗8085884?guccounter=1&guce‗referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce‗referrer‗sig=AQAAABXhF‗Bhmp7j3‗PLOZVow‗w2hEnktBZ-b8Q3SlZDji7kePG4K38c99e8rL0y7BsCJcT1iIKRUKsRUAFcwtvK2FuKXiu‗FoBr92mXRjQ3iRDEbvSCXNnUr‗EB‗NycemvS3by8c9RUUKejq8R‗MiJ‗UQLuSC3lY4G1kgbllIOElcUe. Accessed 12 Aug. 2019.