Spotlight: Africa is key to effective UN sanctions globally

ISS experts will ensure that African voices help determine the future of UN sanctions.

Published on 09 July 2015 in Impact

Institute for Security Studies (ISS) experts will provide a much-needed African perspective for a new handbook for legal practitioners on UN sanctions in the 21st century. The handbook aims to help make the sanctions process more effective globally. The ISS is the only African organisation invited to participate in this unique research project led by the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University.

The handbook is the first of its kind, and will provide a multidisciplinary perspective on UN sanctions. It aims to show the bigger picture of how, when and why sanctions are used internationally. The handbook will also offer an international legal analysis on UN sanctions and the move from comprehensive to targeted sanctions.

With its expertise in providing policy analysis and support to African governments, the ISS will ensure that African perspectives on UN sanctions are included in the handbook. The African continent has a complex history and relationship with UN sanctions. Several countries have experienced, or continue to experience UN sanctions, while all African states are expected to implement existing regimes. Despite this, little research into African perceptions of UN sanctions has been done.

The ISS brings much-needed policy expertise and indispensable African perspectives to the table

‘We see the ISS as an important African partner in this ground-breaking legal study on UN sanctions’, says Larissa van den Herik, Professor of International Law at Leiden University. ‘The ISS brings much-needed policy expertise and indispensable African perspectives to the table, which, along with contributions from academia and the legal community, will enhance the global debate on UN sanctions in future’.

The current process of developing and implementing UN sanctions is viewed as highly politicised, especially by countries directly, and indirectly, affected by sanctions.

‘Current views on UN sanctions cannot be divorced from the frustrating dynamics within the UN Security Council itself. It hasn’t adapted and does not represent the shift in global political power we see today’, says Anton du Plessis, Managing Director of ISS. ‘Despite this, sanctions are often the only tool the UN can use to tackle complex threats to international peace and security. Given Africa’s vast experience with sanctions, we believe our research will improve the way they are created and used in future.’

The ISS will undertake research and meet with African policymakers to collect and analyse perspectives of UN sanctions on the continent. The research will develop concrete steps to improve how UN sanctions are developed and implemented. The handbook is due to be completed in 2015 and will be launched at the UN Headquarters in New York early next year.

For more information contact:

Amelia Broodryk, ISS, [email protected], +27 12 346 9500