Comprehensive economic sanctions

Following Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the UN Security Council (UNSC) imposed comprehensive economic sanctions on Iraq through UNSC Resolution 661 (Welch 2002). Although the international action was prompted to defend Kuwait’s sovereignty, almost immediately after Iraq’s August 2, 1990 invasion, atrocities perpetrated by Iraqi forces were reported (HRW 1992). Following the end of the Gulf War in 1991, UNSC Resolution 687 expanded the scope and goals of the sanctions and outlined the continuation of sanctions as a means to pressure Iraq to disable “all of its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons capability” (UN Peacemaker 1991). The sanctions resulted in “prolonged economic strangulation” and a humanitarian crisis (Alnasrawi 2001; Cortright and Lopez 1999). Five years after the initial imposition of sanctions, “as many as 576,000 children” were reported to have died with widespread evidence of malnutrition and stunted growth (Crossette 1995). Saddam Hussein actively evaded sanctions, including by exploiting the UNSC-established Oil-for-Food Programme, enriching himself while Iraqis starved. In 2010, the UNSC voted to lift most of the economic sanctions against Iraq (BBC 2010).

The United States established comprehensive economic sanctions against Sudan in 1997 in response to Sudan’s designation as a state-sponsor of terrorism and for its harboring of known terrorists, namely Osama Bin Laden (Giacomo 1997). Specifically, E.O. 13067 established a trade embargo and froze Sudan’s government assets. In 2005, UNSC Resolution 1591 established international sanctions on Sudan, including an arms embargo, a travel ban, and asset freezes (UNSC 2005). In response to violence against civilians, President Bush added targeted sanctions via  E.O. 13400 in 2006, “blocking property of persons in connection with the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region” (White House 2006). As the atrocities in Darfur continued, which the Bush administration had declared amounted to genocide, the administration announced it would “more aggressively enforce existing sanctions” and added additional targeted sanctions against perpetrators (White House 2007). The comprehensive economic sanctions against Sudan dating back to 1997, including sections 1 and 2 of E.O. 13067, were lifted in 2017, while the targeted Darfur-related sanctions remained in place (US Department of Treasury).