Targeting the Right Targets? The UN Use of Individual Sanctions

This study focuses on the United Nations’ use of sanctions that target par ticular individuals. This practice is one of the smart sanctions that are stan dard UN strategy since the mid-1990s. It has given rise to a debate on human rights of those listed. This study is one of the first to analyze the ability of such sanctions to achieve compliance. The theory behind this strategyisidentified,basedonsocialandbehavioralscienceinsights.More than 400 individuals from eight nonterrorist cases since year 2000 are stud ied, based on publicly available information. They are studied with respect to their closeness to decisionmaking, demonstrating some flaws in the present application of such sanctions. Suggestions are made for a more fo cused UN targeting strategy. KEYWORDS : United Nations, Security Council, sanctions, economic sanctions, targeted sanctions, smart sanctions, com pliance, civil war, peace, security. The Rise of Smart Sanctions EconomicsanctionsconstituteoneofthemaintoolsfortheUnitedNationsto reacttointernationalcrises.ItismentionedintheCharterunderChapterVII. Thereforeitisimportanttoanalyzetheoperationsofsanctions,mostrecently intheformofthetargetingofparticularindividuals.Inthisarticlewebuildon auniqueinventoryofthecloseto450individualswhohavebeentargetedby theUN,inthefirstdecadeofthetwenty-firstcentury,innonterroristcasesof sanctions.Weanalyzetheindividualswithrespecttotheirclosenesstopower and ,thus ,theirabilitytoaffectthechangestheUNdemands.Hence,thisisa studyofcompliancetoUNsanctions. The UN Security Council is the prime organ with a responsibility for in ternational peace and security. In theory, when the Council acts, there is gen eralagreementamongthemajorpowersandthereisconsiderablepoliticalwill behind its actions—an application of global power. In practice, many decisions are compromises, which may affect the design and implementation of the Council’s measures. In this article , we study one such policy option pur sued by this collectivity: the sanctioning of individuals to achieve member statecompliancewiththeCouncil’sdecisions. Inthelate1990stheSecurityCouncilstartedthepracticeoftargetedsanc tions,whichmeantdealingwithparticularcommodities(e.g.,diamonds,miner als,oroil),arms,aviation,andparticularindividualswhenimposingsanctions.