CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The history of international law is a chronicle of attempts by members of the international community to establish a framework that would prevent the scourge of war, effectively resolve international disputes and promote mutual respect for the integrity of states. With the failure of the League of Nations to prevent World War 2, the United Nations (UN) was created in 1945 and the Security

Council (SC); its primary organ was charged with maintaining international peace and security. The SC’s first task in this regard is to determine the existence of any threat to, or breach of the peace or act of aggression under Article 39 of the UN Charter. Following such determination; the SC may decide what measures short of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, or it may authorize military action. The measures short of armed force – otherwise termed “sanctions” are the focus of this research. It must be quickly pointed out that every enforcement measure authorised by the SC under Chapter VII of the UN Charter constitutes a sanction. Enforcement measures may be broadly categorised into “military sanctions”, i.e. those involving the use of armed force and “nonmilitary sanctions”, or those excluding the use of armed force. This study is concerned with the latter category, and uses the term ‘sanctions’ in that sense.

During the Cold War, veto power politics and the ideological tension between the United

States (US) and Soviet Union caused a stalemate in the SC which hindered the use of sanctions in the UN’s collective security system. The demise of the Soviet Union however roused the SC from its sanctions lethargy, and a revived SC imposed sanctions on a dozen states during the 1990s; as a result of which the 1990s were christened “the sanctions decade.” This enthusiasm has to date motivated the UN to impose sanctions to protect human rights, prevent and curtail armed conflict, counter illegal invasion or annexation of territory, negotiate peace agreements, combat terrorism and encourage nuclear disarmament. Their increased use stems largely from the perception of sanctions as a middle ground between the extremes of diplomacy and military intervention, and the decreasing legitimacy of the use of force. Sanctions have become widely viewed as a veritable tool by which the UN can compel states in violation of international law to modify their objectionable policies.

However, the threats to world peace have geometrically increased in the last few decades in spite of the current appeal of sanctions. This study therefore assesses the effectiveness of UN sanctions imposed from 1945 to 2014 in eradicating threats to and breaches of international peace and security. The study establishes first that UN sanctions have limited effectiveness in addressing threats to world peace; and second, that this limited effectiveness is as a result of flawed UN practices concerning their formation and deployment. The work concludes that UN sanctions hold great promise as an effective alternative to the use of force in eliminating threats to world peace if properly devised and applied.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The reasons for which the UN imposes sanctions have multiplied, and the targets have metamorphosed. The current prominence of sanctions notwithstanding, global peace and security are more threatened today than prior to the UN’s formation – the upheavals and deplorable human rights conditions in Syria, Guinea Bissau, Central African Republic and Yemen; the violent clashes in Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan; the menace posed by transnational terrorist groups such as Al Qaida; and nuclear pursuits of North Korea and Iran, all give the world grave cause for concern. These seemingly intractable challenges have raised doubts about the effectiveness of sanctions. The central question is “Are sanctions effective in achieving target compliance with the stated objectives?” The literature is contentious and inconclusive. Conventional wisdom holds that sanctions are ineffective. Sanctions advocates contend however that they have been fairly effective and are more useful than critics acknowledge. This academic confusion compels our inquiry into the UN sanctions universe, to ascertain their effectiveness in addressing threats to and breaches of world peace.

Again, although there is an abundance of previous scholarship on UN sanctions, inadequate attention is paid to their effectiveness. Most of the works on the effectiveness of UN sanctions tackle just a few celebrated cases, which are too narrow to build a firm conclusion upon. In contrast, major studies have profusely addressed the effectiveness of unilateral sanctions imposed by states outside the ambit of the UN. This lacuna provides further motivation for our research.

1.3 Research Questions

This study addresses the following questions:

1. What is the legal basis for the UN’s imposition of sanctions, and what is the UN’s sanctions policy and procedure?

2. Has the imposition of sanctions by the UN been effective in eradicating threats to and breaches of international peace and security?

3. If the answer to question 2 above is in the negative, what factors are responsible; and what can and should be done to improve UN sanctions effectiveness?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

Without question, attaining global peace and security is a desirable end whose importance cannot be overemphasized. This research probes the UN sanctions arena to determine whether its sanctions regimes have been effective in addressing threats to and breaches of world peace; and if not, how their effectiveness can be significantly improved.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The findings and recommendations of this research are a useful springboard for future sanctions management by the UN, and other regional sanctioning bodies such as the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU); because they afford a substantial improvement on the sanctions status quo. Given the current spate of global conflict, this study’s unique endeavour is to show that sanctions can be a veritable and effective instrument and a suitable substitute for force in eradicating threats to and breaches of international peace and security if properly designed and implemented. The work further contributes to the sanctions literature by initiating a comprehensive case study model for the assessment of the effectiveness of UN sanctions.

1.6 Research Methodology

This study adopted both doctrinal and empirical approaches. The analytical method is employed to examine the sanctions debate and the expository method discloses details of the UN sanctions practice. The UN imposes sanctions via SC resolutions, and this research relied on them for the facts and figures of UN sanctions regimes. The effectiveness of UN sanctions in causing a change in target behaviour is empirically determined using the following criteria, all of which must coexist before a sanctions regime is deemed successful: the sanctions must be threatened or applied before the change in target behaviour; the change in target behaviour must be a product of sanctions, and the sanctions must have ceased. Recourse was made to primary sources such as statutes, international treaties and conventions; and secondary sources including case law, textbooks, journal articles, law reviews, theses and dissertations, reports, conference and seminar papers, newspaper articles and the internet.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The UN is the focal point for sanctions in international law; as such this work explores and is limited to the UN sanctions practice from 1945 to 2014. This study does not address the effectiveness of trade sanctions imposed by states solely for economic purposes; or unilateral sanctions imposed by states outside the ambit of the UN to achieve non-economic goals; or sanctions imposed by regional bodies such as the AU and EU. It does not also deal with UN sanctions as a prelude or complement to the use of force. It concentrates on establishing the effectiveness of UN sanctions as a stand-alone enforcement strategy in achieving target compliance with UN objectives.

1.8 Literature Review

In a comprehensive empirical review of 174 sanctions cases (from 1914 – 2007) in their book Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, Gary Hufbauer et al counter the conventional wisdom that sanctions never work. From their study, the authors found that sanctions succeeded in achieving their goals in about a third or 34% of the cases. Theirs is arguably the most cited work in the sanctions literature, having considerably influenced subsequent research with renewed optimism in the effectiveness of sanctions. However, the main focus of their study is on the unilateral sanctions practice with only scant attention paid to UN sanctions in Chapter Five; and the cases studied include only two UN sanctions regimes – Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. Secondly, their data set is arranged in tabular form without a case-by-case analysis of the efficacy of each sanctions regime. This is perhaps due first to the volume of cases reviewed, and second, to the economic perspective of their work, which is devoid of legal content that our research aims to provide.