Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

In order to consolidate its world hegemony, the US has utilized its power to bypass the multilateral mechanism of the UN and wielded the stick of economic sanctions around the world, becoming the country that has imposed the most economic sanctions since the 20th century. The unilateral economic sanctions implemented by the US, whether comprehensive or targeted, have posed significant human rights risks. It is of great significance for global political and economic order and human rights governance to examine the current regulation of international human rights law on unilateral economic sanctions and explore how to regulate it under the framework of the UN in the future.

1. The violation of human rights by unilateral economic sanctions imposed by the US

When implementing comprehensive sanctions, the US targets a country and usually uses economic blockades or trade embargoes, which often lead to economic paralysis in the sanctioned country and the inability to guarantee people's basic living materials, resulting in a serious humanitarian crisis. For example, the comprehensive sanctions imposed by the US on Cuba, Haiti, Syria and Iran have led to a sharp drop in trade, an increase in government's fiscal deficits, a rise in unemployment and inflation, and a shortage of basic daily necessities such as food, drinking water and medicines, which has adversely affected the enjoyment of basic human rights of the people in the sanctioned countries, including the rights to life, survival and health.

Targeted sanctions imposed by the US are mainly aimed at specific individuals or entities, usually using measures such as asset freezes and travel bans and including the targets on different sanctions lists. The human rights challenges posed by targeted sanctions mainly focus on the deprivation of property rights and freedom of movement, the lack of due process, and proportionality issue caused by the tendency to trace back to comprehensive sanctions.

2. The regulation of international human rights law on unilateral economic sanctions 

There are already provisions regarding the relationship between sanctions and human rights at the level of the UN, such as the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action calling upon states to refrain from unilateral measures that impede the full realization of the human rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights instruments. A large number of international human rights conventions also place human rights protection in an important position. For example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights stipulates that the right to life shall not be arbitrarily deprived, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights guarantees people's right to an adequate standard of living and health. At the same time, the Convention also requires states parties to do their utmost to take steps or through international assistance and cooperation to gradually realize the rights recognized in the Convention. Obviously, economic sanctions are completely incompatible with the requirements of international assistance and cooperation.

Since the 1980s, the UN has been continuously reviewing the negative impact of unilateral economic sanctions on human rights and has taken a series of measures to regulate it. For example, the UN has adopted a large number of resolutions on issues such as "Human Rights and Unilateral Coercive Measures," condemning the negative impact of unilateral economic sanctions on human rights; put forward a "six-prong test" to evaluate unilateral economic sanctions, with a view to introduce the human rights and humanitarian issues involved in sanctions into international dialogue; set up Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights to collect all information related to the violation of human rights by unilateral coercive measures, and study related trends, developments and challenges; called for a Declaration on Unilateral Coercive Measures and the Rule of Law, with the aim to establish an international consensus on the minimum human rights protection that must be applied when adopting unilateral coercive measures. The draft declaration is still under consideration.

3. Prospects for regulating unilateral economic sanctions under the framework of the UN

It has become a consensus of the international community that unilateral economic sanctions implemented by the US pose significant human rights risks. In addition to the deterrence of international human rights conventions and the measures already adopted by the UN, the UN should strengthen its coercive power to collective decision-making on economic sanctions in the future, and regulate unilateral economic sanctions under the framework of the UN.

First, establish a mechanism for reviewing the legality of unilateral economic sanctions. Accelerate the development of international rules related to unilateral economic sanctions, especially confirm the legitimate and reasonable standards of it, and curb the prevalence of unilateral economic sanctions by promoting international consensus on unilateral economic sanctions. 

Second, set minimum human rights standards for adopting unilateral economic sanctions. The UN is attempting to establish minimum human rights standards for the use of unilateral economic sanctions, which requires to clarify the human rights obligations of the countries imposing sanctions as soon as possible, and establish the human rights impact assessment mechanism for economic sanctions. 

Third, strengthen the enforcement of the UN's collective decision-making on economic sanctions. The UN Charter endows the UN Security Council with the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, as well as the collective coercion decision-making and the ability of enforcing sanctions. This has not only effectively cracked down on internationally wrongful acts, but also effectively controlled and regulated sanctions. Strengthen the UN's enforcement power over collective decision-making on economic sanctions and exercise economic sanctions uniformly under the framework of the UN can curb the abuse of unilateral economic sanctions.

The unilateral economic sanctions imposed by the US inevitably violate some provisions of the International Bill of Human Rights or customary law, and are being strongly regulated by international human rights law. The joint efforts of the international community to regulate the unilateral economic sanctions imposed by the US under the framework of the UN in the future can break through the limitations of each country's response to the sanctions.

The author is deputy director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights Discourse, School of Foreign Languages, Southwest University of Political Science and Law. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn