The United Nations Sanctions Policy and International Law

Authors : Hans Köchler

Pages : 1-36

Doi:10.1501/Intrel_0000000213

View : 12 | Download : 6

Publication Date : 1992-05-01

Article Type : Research

Abstract :Article 41 of the United Nations Charter provides for economic and other kinds of non-military measures for maintaining or restoring international peace and security, without using the term sanctions to designate such measures.1 These coercive measures bind ali member states.2 They are listed in connection with the maintenance of peace in Chapter VII of the Charter3 and have become familiar to a broad public in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War.4 The use of economic coercion is a prior step to military  force as provided for in articles 42 et seq.5 Interestingly, the Charter grants the Security Council a şort of monopoly över definitions in this field; the Security Council decides on its own whether a threat to peace, a breach of peace, or an act of aggression exists. It remains undisputed that sanctions are permitted by law as specifîc countermeasures to violations of international law and that, in the event of such a violation, contractual obligations to the "law-breaking" state which otherwise apply are invalidated. The problematic nature of this issue has been thoroughly treated by the International Law Commission of the United Nations under the heading "Legitimate application of a sanction".6 In Article 30 of the "Draft articles on State responsibility" (1979), the Commission recommended a formulation of this normative priority of sanctions in international law; the revised title of this article reads "Countermeasures in respect of an internationally wrongful act"  
Keywords : The United, Nations Sanction, International Law