International Sanctions: Evaluating Their Effectiveness in Promoting Global Peace and Security

Abstract

This article analyses the use of “The International Sanctions for the maintenance of the peace and security in the international community and their devastating impact on the targeted population.” This article analysis the detrimental effects in Iraq, Iran, Russia, and Syria which highlights the economical and societal conditions on its civilian population. It posits that even though sanctions can be an effective way of applying pressure to ensure compliance with the norms by the international community, it usually causes harm among the innocent citizens and thus questioning its morality. It suggests the need to review approaches to sanctions to conform with the idea of peace and wellbeing of humankind.

Black’s Law Dictionary, 2007 defines sanction as “a penalty or a coercive measure that results from failure to comply with law, rule, or order”.

In the context of international law, sanctions provide a system that upholds and coercively implements norms across countries. Often, sanctions are imposed upon aggressive acts, such as human rights abuses or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Their efficiency does vary, given the underlying determinants: the level of international backing, economic resistance of the targeted state, and the type of sanctions imposed.

International sanctions are actions taken by countries or international bodies to influence the behaviour of a country or group of countries. These may be in the form of financial, trade restrictions, travel bans, economic, arms embargoes, and the withdrawal of diplomatic ties, among others.

For example, there are multiple sanctions which have been imposed on different countries like Syria, Russia, Iran/Iraq by European Union, Japan, Canada, the United States. Many other countries have imposed sanctions on Iran’s nuclear missile technology and financial sector.

The United States and European Union imposed sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear program and sponsorship of terrorist organizations. The sanctions impacted Iran’s economy, leading to inflation and depressed oil revenues. The sanctions were partially lifted in 2015 under the JCPOA.

The ultimate goals of international sanctions are generally to ensure compliance with international norms and laws, deter unjustified conduct, or punish noncompliance with international agreements.

But the effectiveness of international sanctions is itself a complex issue, considering both the potential of sanctions to cause damage and human suffering. Whereas the official goal of sanctions is to effect changes in the actions of certain states, the effects often involve significant unwanted consequences, including restrictions on access to essential goods and a disproportionate burden on civilian populations. The legitimacy of the sanctions, especially those supported by the United Nations, may affect their efficacy because unilateral ones can be considered repressive. The humanitarian consequences of devastation brought about by sanctions have raised calls for more targeted measures that reduce harm to civilians, coupled with other approaches such as diplomatic engagement.

Historical Evaluation

Sanctions, once deployed as a political pressure tool by states by denying other states access to a trading partner, or outright banning their exports or imports, are not an invention.

Around 1970’s economic sanctions in Syria[1] have stretched the economy and the health care part of the country through devaluation of currency and rationing of necessities, poor health care services. There, the shortage of medicine, destroyed medical facilities, and communicational diseases propagated in camps worsen illnesses, especially among children, pregnant women, and the elderly, doubtless, there are severe secondary health effects.[2]

Irante[3] is in a reactive position internationally due to extensive sanctions implemented since 2011 to limit resource and financial strategies in the financial and banking sectors to minimize independence of the international financial system as well as fewer data flow and material imports and exports. The US targeted the financial aspect of the country with so-called ‘smart’ sanctions; for example, imposing a significant ban on oil exports that led to sharp decrease of government revenues and recession.

In response to this, countries like the European Union, the United Kingdom, United States and Japan have placed economic sanctions on Russia[4] making this country to seek other markets and coalition partners. Nevertheless, Russia has been going through sanctions and still it has achieved ways to survive and make it on its own without exhausting any policies. However, these sanctions have affected the Russian civilians as it has made living become even more costly, food shortages, and increased inflation especially targeting the more vulnerable persons such as the sick who are unable to access food and other necessities such as health services.

Again, these are not far from true having is invaded Ukraine in 2022 and has been given a lot of sanctions; their economy has greatly declined with the Central Bank forecasting negative economic growth for their GDP. This recession has impacted many industries which has caused shortages and skyrocketing inflation leaving many citizens with low standard of living. Such attempts of Russia to switch to the diversification of the economy partners with a lesser dependence on imports have not fully compensated the losses, thus making the economy sensitive to the external shocks.

One of the best examples of the destructive effect of economic sanctions is Iraq[5] in which UN had imposed sanctions since 1990 and more than 5000 children under five years die every month because of lack of food and medicine. The effects of sanctions include the deterioration of health care, the spread of water-borne diseases, devaluation of the region’s currency and social breakdown as some families are forced to sell their belongings and turn to begging to sustain themselves.

How did the 9/11 attacks change sanctions policy?

The US government and its allies launched a thorough effort to disrupt illicit international transactions and terrorism by targeting the financial foundation. President George W. Bush invoked Executive Order post-9/11, giving the Treasury Department authority to freeze assets of suspected terrorism supporters. Bush also empowered the Treasury to label foreign jurisdictions and financial institutions as money laundering concerns under the USA Patriot Act. These steps involved sharp changes in the regulatory environment that raised the potential risks for banks involved in suspicious practices.

Effectiveness of Sanctions

Sanctions come with cost, since decades international sanctions have been in place. How many times have we come across one country or group of countries that have sanctioned that one country that was not following the guided principles of how it should run, but what happened? It comes with humanitarian cost by affecting humans which has been seen in countries such as Iran and Venezuela, where sanctions have caused runaway inflation and shortages of essential goods, including medicine, making life miserable. In these cases, the humanitarian casualties alienate the local population from the sanctioning powers, only worsening public opinion. Also, it harms the country’s economy. Additionally, while financial sanctions target specific targets, they often create accidental collateral damage, affecting civilian populations and industries not meant to be targeted, thereby undermining the intended goals of the sanctioning country.

When we talk about peace and security, countries are not able to provide peace and security to people as hostilities began in Ukraine and countries like the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Japan were imposing sanctions on Russia, they reacted to sanctions by generating alternative trade routes and forging new relationships. This shows that even though countries were imposing sanctions, Russia found new ways to run their country rather than certifying them. As a result of sanctions placed on Russia currently, civil populace suffers the consequences of excessive or high costs of living due to lack of sufficient food supplies and increased inflation. The economic pressure has hurt the vulnerable groups and reduced their access to health care, food and other basic needs, as political and social challenges persist.

Some examples are stated as follows which depicts how sanctions affect not only the common man but also the economy of the country: United Nations economic sanctions that have been imposed on Iraq since 1990 became a severe humanitarian crisis which increased the level of malnutrition and child mortality rate. According to experts the sanctions result in the death of between 5000 and 7000 children below the age of five each month due to hunger and lack of medical care. With the sanctioning of Iraq’s health care, the health standards of the nation have degraded and the number of people suffering from water-borne diseases has risen. Also, the economic losses have created a devaluation of the Iraqi dinar, and this has created more problems on the economical aspect and has left many families destitute and in despair.

Some have sold household goods or even offered themselves for prostitution to meet the needs of their families; thus, the collapse of the society and high incidents of divorce and single parent families.

The instability in economic aspect has led to many men leaving their families or moving in search of jobs thus contributing to disintegration of society. Women, children, disabled and other disadvantaged groups such as war widows and orphans are paying the price through depending on state handouts to feed themselves hence deepening the already existing problem. Psychologically, the impact has established a sense of hopelessness and trauma which poses future problems on the stability as well as social order in Iraq.

Iraq has also lost over 2 million skilled workforce personnel making the nation incapable of economic and technological recuperation hence remaining in poverty and instability. The sanctions, which were at first imposed on the Iraqi leadership, had a rather devastating impact on civilians who are politically innocuous. This humanitarian crisis poses the question regarding the ability of the United Nations to uphold Charter and human rights conventions it has signed, and thus the credibility of a peace and human welfare. The effects are far-reaching, and they range from hunger, social disintegration disturbing the future stability and sovereignty of Iraq.
The case of Iraq shows that human beings loose in the process of achieving certain political objectives and or fulfilling the political masters’ vision. There is dire necessity for overhaul towards mitigation of these adverse impact on the welfare of the civilians and innocent persons as well as on the principles of international relation with progressive sovereign states.
Critical consisted sanctions have invaded Iran Since 2011 and constructed and located Iran at a compromised position internationally. Virtually all of the sanctions on Iran affected financial and banking sectors and aimed at restricting the country’s access to international financial systems and choking its import and export activities.

The US Department of the Treasury introduced ‘smart’ sanctions, carefully planned to target the financial aggression of Iran, which are highly significant for the actors of both the domestic and the international sphere involved in transactions with Iran. The sanctions also incorporated very strict measures of depriving Iran of this source of its income as EXPORT of Oil. It was estimated to be responsible for half of Iranian government revenues and up to one-fifth of Iranian GPD before the year 2012. The success of this oil embargo was made better by the fact that there was an international coalition that was in support of these sanctions, and this involved the major Asian importers of this oil. The other sanctions also had extra geographical jurisdiction in isolating Iran and its banks from the world by limited interactions of foreign financial institutions with Iranian banks.

These were accompanied by UN Security Council Resolution 1929 which enhanced previous sanctions and encouraged the unity in financial policies. Combining all the above-mentioned steps, restrictions that the international community exerted on Iran led to an obvious deterioration of the national economy, which was to the range of 15 to 20 percent less developed than it could have been without sanctions. Consequently, this scenario has resulted in massive reduction in oil revenues, severe recession and extensive economic suffering to Iranians.

Another example is that, as recently the numerous sanctions applied on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that affected the economy, politics, and social stratum of the country greatly. The effects have been drastic in the economic department as the Central Bank envisaged a negative growth 8. from between 5% and 12% of a country’s GDP by the end of the year 2022.

This recession is likely to do profound damage to Russia[6] in its economic development and even high technology sectors because of restrictions on technology imports and financial ties.
Some of the key industries especially the ones that depend on technology from the Western countries have been affected by export bans thus resulting to shortages in other key areas such as microelectronics. The inflation rate has gone up implying that standard of living has been adversely affected of many of the citizens. All these reforms have been carried out with an aim of making the Russian economy[7] less dependent on imports, but the economy is still very sensitive to external forces.

Globally, sanctions have placed Russia in a more isolated position thereby providing EU with greater potency as advocate of international law and human rights.

Thus, Russia sought for years to diversify its economic partners and turn to the East and Asia, but it seems incapable of covering all the losses. It has been seen that the sanctions have a multidimensional bearing on Russia as it restructured its economy and politics and questioned its global role. The long-term impact is still unknown, due to Russia’s conditions that have socio-economic issues and might experience instability as repression continues.

Discussing the situation in Syria, economic sanctions applied to Syria have impacted on the country’s economy and health; Syrian Pound devaluation, increase in the price of some essentials goods decreasing the consumption capacity of households.  The availability of health care has been highly compromised, severe shortages in medical products and drugs especially those for chronic diseases leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Sanitation and hygiene have significantly been compromised and living conditions have deteriorated reaching a level where vulnerable groups including children, pregnant woman and the elderly are more vulnerable to the current health challenges that are prevalent now. Various Hospitals and clinics have been demolished and this has led to a reduced availability of medical services to the people. This has led to reduced access in health care services hence exacerbation of mortality and morbidity.
Sanctions are alarming, as they prolong their effect, thereby erasing potential progress made in the health sector and wiping out health systems that will be potentially disastrous to population’s health in the future.

Critical Analysis

International Sanctions are a way to uphold the nations to behave in a certain way and are beneficial in some way but relying on just sanctions for maintaining peace and security is not enough. Providing security to the common man is a myth because civilians are the ones who are most affected, we talk about Russia, we talk about Iran, and Iraq, speaking about global peace and security but the reality is totally different from the context of peace, people can’t sleep peacefully at night as Russia launched an attack on several cities in Ukraine overnight killing and injuring people leaving the civilians of the country threatened and vulnerable.

The effects of sanctions on Iraq, Iran, Russia and Syria present major concerns about international and regional security in the sense of bringing further suffering to the people and subverting useful compliance to international law. In Iraq long lasting effects of sanctions were deterioration of the living standards for Iraqi civilians, weakened institutions and disruption of societies leading to displacement and long-term social disintegration more propitious for extremisms and conflict. Likewise in Iran, numerous incidences show that due to economic costs of sanctions, lives of its civilian are endangered besides creating Anti-Western feelings which may lead to more complications in the Middle East. The sanctions that were placed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine have locked Russian out economically and politically but at the same time forced it to look for other markets and partners to turn to, which might usher in great power bipolarity and rivalry. In Syria, for instance, these sanctions have worsened the humanitarian situation making it difficult to foster the peace building process because the citizenry who are disillusioned by their plight may turn into radical groups that fuel the conflict. In conclusion, even though sanctions remain legitimised measures aimed at enforcing the norms of international law and discouraging punitive actions, their collateral impacts are more averse to global and regional peace, resilience, and stability since they foster states’, individuals’ and societies’ poverty, resentment, and cycles of suffering, and as such, it underlines the need to focus attention on the humanitarian approaches to international business.

The interactions of sanctions and their side-effects reveal that the world needs a more balanced approach to the foreign policy that puts hundreds of people’s suffering and aspiration for dialogue above the vendetta and punitive measures. Therefore, when it comes to imposing sanctions on the countries, it should be done in line with advancing of the international peace and security. The use of such as talks and negotiations besides threatening punitive measures towards ensuring that conflicts are resolved without resorting to violence.

The also assessment of the sanctions impact to be on-going may allow for necessary alterations in the approach while concrete exceptions for humanitarian reasons can safeguard at-risk communities. Moreover, they must be accompanied by measures that aim at targeted causes of instability, empowering civil societies, and minimizing the reliance on sanctions as the sole means of enforcing the international norms.

Author: Khushi Dubey, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email to chhavi@khuranaandkhurana.com or at Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorney.

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[2] AlFaisal, Waleed, and Kasturi Sen. “Syria: Effects of Conflict and Sanctions on Public Health: Response to Coutts Correspondence.” Journal of Public Health, vol. 35, no. 2, 2013, pp. 344–344. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/45158286.

[3] CRAIL, PETER. “UN Enhances Iran Sanctions.” Arms Control Today, vol. 40, no. 6, 2010, pp. 33–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23629016.

[4] Harrell, Peter E., et al. THE FUTURE OF TRANSATLANTIC SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA. Center for a New American Security, 2017. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep06243.

[5] Halliday, Denis J. “The Impact of the UN Sanctions on the People of Iraq.” Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. 28, no. 2, 1999, pp. 29–37. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2537932.

[6] Connolly, Richard, et al. “THE IMPACT OF EU ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA.” On Target?: EU Sanctions as Security Policy Tools, edited by Iana Dreyer and José Luengo-Cabrera, European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), 2015, pp. 29–38. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep07074.7.

[7] Portela, Clara, and Janis Kluge. SLOW-ACTING TOOLS: Evaluating EU Sanctions against Russia after the Invasion of Ukraine. European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), 2022. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep44887.