Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

The imposition of collective sanctions' is a tool used increasingly by the United Nations (U.N.) in response to violations of international human rights law.' Sanctions are intended to alter the policies of the government of a target nation and/or to exact a punishment for human rights violations.4 The recent increase in use of collective sanctions stems in large part from the perception of this technique as a more moderate approach, falling between the extremes of diplomacy and military intervention.

This Comment investigates whether the imposition of collective sanctions by the U.N. to punish or alter the behavior of a target nation's government results in the U.N. defying its own Charter.' After examining precisely how collective sanctions are intended to work alongside specific U.N. human rights principles,9 this Comment suggests that the U.N. may be in violation of its own Charter for denying basic human rights' o with the application of most collective sanctions.

In discussing sanctions generally as a rehabilitative and/or punitive theory, this Comment focuses on the concept of how collective sanctions are supposed to effect their ultimate goal." In examining the means used to reach the end and the intended ramifications on the population of a nation, developments in Serbia and Iraq will be used to illustrate the practical realities of collective sanctioning. The general theory of sanctions is multi-faceted and complex. I have attempted to reduce the present issue to its barest elements in order to avoid the interjection of other U.N. and sanctioning issues.' For instance, this Comment does not address the effectiveness of sanctions in ultimately reaching a political or social goal. 3 Also, the practical effects of sanctions are used only to enhance the basic tenets of sanctioning theory on which this Comment focuses.

In setting. a foundation for analysis, section II of this Comment discusses the fundamentals of sanctioning. In particular, this section examines the means by which the imposer 4 intends sanctions to effect a goal and how current situations demonstrate this proposition in practice. Section III addresses the portions of the U.N. Charter which are implicated by the use of sanctions and how sanctions are intended to work. Section IV analyzes justifications for U.N. sanction-imposition. This section addresses the issues of proportionality, humanitarian exemptions, and blameworthiness. Section V offers alternatives to collective sanctions.

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