Unilateral Economic Sanctions

Abstract

After the failure of the League of Nations in dealing with the Second World War, the United Nations was keen not to repeat the tragedies of war, targeting the maintenance of international peace and security, and using peaceful means to resolve international conflicts in accordance with the principles of justice and international law.In order to achieve its previous goals, this organization possessed a set of guarantees and penalties that its charter included.

However, the United Nations was not the only organization that used these sanctions. Rather, countries resorted unilaterally to using these sanctions to achieve their goals and interests. As the second half of the twentieth century witnessed a great expansion in the countries ’resort to using unilateral economic sanctions, whether this expansion is related to the intensity and breadth of imposing such sanctions on the level of international relations or related to the multiplicity of their forms and levels, as well as the development of their tools and policies-The major countries, led by the United States of America, are not reluctant to use their enormous economic power and capabilities and to take the sanctions that they deem appropriate at a time when they find it appropriate as one of the means of pressure and extending hegemony against other countries, with the intent to compel the target country to comply with its orders and change its policy and attitudes in a manner that is compatible with the interests of the country imposing such countries. However, this violates the target country’s sovereignty, independence and principles of its economic life.Therefore, unilateral economic sanctions represent a clear violation of the principles of international law and its peremptory norms, especially those rules that prohibit members of the international community from resorting to force, or merely threatening to use it on the level of international mutual relations among them, as well as a violation of the rules that affirm the sovereignty of countries and the inadmissibility of intervention in their internal affairs or in the area reserved for those countries.Unilateral economic sanctions usually carry any character other than military ones, as they may include economic embargoes, economic boycotts, blockades and seizures of property, restricting the activity of foreigners with the nationals of the target country through measures and restricting the trade of the target country, as well as other similar measures. Such sanctions may amount to unilateral economic intervention.

Keywords: Unilateral economic sanctions- economic embargoes- economic boycotts- blockade- seizure- unilateral intervention- international peace and security

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/94-16

Publication date: February 29^th 2020