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American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 89, Issue 10 1509-1513, Copyright © 1999 by American Public Health Association

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Economic sanctions as human rights violations: reconciling political and public health imperatives.

S P Marks

Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA. smarks@hsph.harvard.edu

The impact of economic sanctions on civilians has frequently been studied by public health specialists and specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). This commentary explores some of the difficulties of the claim that sanctions constitute violations of human rights. The deprivation suffered by civilian populations under sanctions regimes often are violations of economic, social, and cultural human rights; however, the attribution of responsibility for those violations to the "senders" of sanctions (the UN Security Council or the US government, for example) is difficult to sustain, particularly in light of the efforts made by these entities to provide for humanitarian exemptions and humanitarian aid. A more productive approach to avoiding civilian harm is to prefer, as a matter of policy, arms embargoes, severing of communications, and international criminal prosecutions over trade embargoes. Promising recommendations have been formulated regarding "smart sanctions," which target regimes rather than people, and "positive sanctions" in the form of incentives. Health and human rights professionals have specific and important tasks in implementing such a restructured approach to sanctions.


Related articles in AJPH:

The impact of economic sanctions on health and human rights in Haiti, 1991-1994.
E Gibbons and R Garfield
AJPH 1999 89: 1499-1504. [Abstract]  





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Copyright © 1999 by the American Public Health Association