Sanctions and Why People Afraid of Them

What Are Sanctions?

Simply put: sanctions are a means for countries to punish other countries.

An official order is taken against a country to try to alter the strategic decisions of the government that threaten or violate international norms of behavior.

The supposed purpose of sanctions

To change undesirable behaviour
To limit opportunities for undesirable behaviour
to deter other countries from choosing an undesirable course of action.

Forms of Sanctions

Tariffs – Taxes imposed on goods imported from another country

Quotas – A limit on how many goods can be either imported or exported from another country.

Embargoes – A trade restriction that prevents a country from trading with another.

Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) – non-tariff restrictions on imported goods and can include licensing and packaging requirements and product standards

Asset freezes or seizures – Preventing assets owned by a country or individual from being sold or moved.

Types of Sanctions

Financial & Economic- import and export restrictions, restrictions on banking services. The financial assets of certain people or organisations are frozen, so they can't access their money in foreign bank accounts.

Arms embargo- prohibition on exporting goods set out in the EU`s common military list

Travel Ban- Blocking individuals from travelling

So if they are made to help, why are people afraid of sanctions?

Sanctions seem well-intentioned but more often than not the innocent citizens of a country suffer the most. They negatively impact a nation's economy and can also cause collateral damage to ordinary citizens.

Financial and economic sanctions, for instance, restrict the flow of goods and services and can lead to the citizens losing access to food, medicine, and other basic amenities.

Often times, the policy or ideology of the governing bodies does not change, and as such the innocent citizens are the only ones truly affected.

Sanctions are also harder to lift than implement and as such "It is often difficult or impossible to build a consensus for rescinding a sanction, even if there has been some progress on the matter of concern, if the sanction has been shown to be feckless or counterproductive, or if other interests can be shown to suffer as a result"

When are sanctions helpful?

Targeted Sanctions- these are sanctions that only affect specific people such as members of the governing body. These sanctions include travel bans and disabling access to foreign bank accounts. However, these are only useful if those sanctioned use these resources.

Examples of failed sanctions

The UN imposed strict economic sanctions against Iraq between 1990 and 2003. This led to a humanitarian crisis in the 1990s as many Iraqis struggled to get hold of food and medicine

In Congo, infant mortality rates rose in villages whose economic fates are tied to intentionally boycotted, the armed groups controlled 3T mines.

Second, infant mortality rates also increased in villages whose economic fates are tied to

unintentionally boycotted, and potentially ‘conflict-free’ minerals.

Sanctions increased the economic distress on Haiti, triggering a dangerous and expensive exodus of people from Haiti to the United States.

Sources

https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2016-124_1.pdf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-45128837

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/10/economic-sanctions.asp

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sanction

https://www.ft.com/content/565c3308-96eb-11e8-b747-fb1e803ee64e

https://eeas.europa.eu/topics/sanctions-policy/423/sanctions-policy_en

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-are-economic-sanctions#:~:text=Sanctions%20take%20a%20variety%20of,often%20excluded%20from%20sanctions%20discussions.)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-48119109

https://www.brookings.edu/research/economic-sanctions-too-much-of-a-bad-thing/