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Position on the Travel and Financial Sanctions Against Alleged Al Qaida Supporters - Empire? - Global Policy Forum Position on the Travel and Financial Sanctions
Against Alleged Al Qaida SupportersBy Kenneth Roth* and Joanna Weschler*
Human Rights Watch
March 20, 2002
Your Excellency,
We have been concerned about recent reports regarding the application of targeted financial and travel sanctions to individuals under the terms of Security Council resolutions 1267, 1333, and 1390. We understand that the Council is currently discussing draft guidelines for the conduct of the work of the sanctions committee created by the above resolutions. We would like to offer some comments and recommendations. Before we proceed to address our concerns, we would like to set out Human Rights Watch's general position on sanctions.
Human Rights Watch believes that when diplomatic pressure and other non-coercive measures fail to curb egregious abuses, the United Nations should be in a position to employ limited and targeted sanctions to express condemnation of human rights violations, press for a change in abusive government policies, and avoid international complicity in abuses. Our experience has taught us that certain types of sanctions, under certain conditions, offer the greatest promise of success in countering abusive practices. A number of policy prescriptions flow from this experience:
Targeted sanctions. We advocate sanctions that are targeted, and designed to have the greatest impact on an abusive regime by depriving it of the tools and means of repression, while avoiding or minimizing any negative impact on the general civilian population. First in the hierarchy of such sanctions are arms embargoes and restrictions on military assistance that a brutal regime would likely use to perpetrate further abuses. We also favor the use of "smart sanctions" that narrowly target decision-makers and do not permit them to shift the burden to the general population. These include freezing the assets of abusive leaders or governments and denying visas and residency permits to such officials. Another is the restriction on trade benefits that are most likely to benefit an abusive ruling elite, such as sanctions against an industry that is dominated by an abusive central government or from which the government derives substantial resources.
Sanctions tied to clear benchmarks. We have found that sanctions tied to clearly defined benchmarks are most effective in achieving a desired result. Such sanctions can then be gradually lifted to the extent that the benchmarks are achieved.
Sanctions consistent with human rights. We oppose sanctions that themselves violate norms of international human rights or humanitarian law. Therefore, we oppose restrictions of aid or trade that is essential to meet basic human needs for food, shelter, clothing, sanitation or medical care, particularly when such measures would violate fundamental economic rights or prohibitions against the use of starvation and related deprivation as a method of warfare. Generalized sanctions are a notoriously blunt instrument susceptible to causing severe adverse humanitarian consequences. If they are ever imposed, their implementation must be carefully monitored for these consequences, and provisions must always be made to meet the basic needs of the civilian population.
Under resolution 1390, however, measures that were initially of limited application, both geographically and in terms of targeted individuals, became applicable worldwide and to a loosely defined category of individuals and entities. While we do not challenge the validity of wide measures in the face of the wide threat exemplified by the attacks of September 11, we have serious concerns about the manner in which these measures may be applied. In particular, we believe that the application of punitive measures against individuals without any possibility of review or appeal has the real potential to violate individual due process rights.
We call on the Council to establish clear rules under which the names of individuals can be placed on the list, to establish a clear mechanism for appeal and clear guidelines for review, and to clarify the conditions to be fulfilled for eventual removal of the names from lists. In applying the measures foreseen by resolutions 1267, 1333, and 1390 to individual citizens, the Council should ensure that the basic due-process rights of these individuals are guaranteed - in particular the right to equality before the law, the right to be informed of the reasons for the sanction or restriction imposed, the right to prepare a defense, the right to be heard, the right to challenge evidence, and the right to obtain a review.
In addition to the need for the prompt establishment of clear and transparent rules for the application of measures called for in resolutions 1267, 1333, and 1390, we believe that the present situation underscores the urgent need for the Council to revive and complete the work of the SC Working Group on Sanctions and its effort to articulate clear guidelines and policies for the use and implementation of Security Council sanctions overall. Failure to do so may erode the entire UN sanctions system and eventually deprive the Council of a valuable and needed tool.
We trust that you share these concerns.
* Kenneth Roth is Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. Joanna Weschler is the UN Representative of Human Rights Watch.
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