Targeted sanctions

From 2015 through 2018, government officials loyal to President Joseph Kabila committed human rights abuses against civilians protesting Kabila’s postponement of the 2016 election (HRW 2017). Throughout this period, government officials and security forces targeted political protesters, civil society groups, media groups, and religious leaders, leaving approximately 320 people dead, 3,500 injured, and over 8,000 imprisoned (Amnesty 2020). In response to the violence, the US implemented targeted sanctions against several senior government officials throughout 2016 and 2017. The targeted sanctions had two primary goals: to persuade Kabila and his security forces to exercise restraint against the political opposition and to ultimately force Kabila to adhere to the limit on his presidential term, allow for democratic elections, and step down (Pomper 2018). Targeted sanctions and continuing protests put pressure on the government to sign an agreement, mediated by the Catholic Church, in December 2016. The agreement stated elections would be held in 2017; however, elections were again postponed until 2018, and violence against civilians continued unabated during these years, particularly as militia groups expanded operations throughout the country (Crisis Group 2017). Multilateral coordination to implement targeted sanctions between the US and the European Union sent a common diplomatic message to Kabila that he should allow democratic elections. After a long delay, Kabila stepped down in 2018 in a mostly peaceful transition.

Throughout the Syrian civil war that began in 2011, the Assad regime deliberately targeted civilian populations, especially in contested and opposition-held areas. Through successive executive orders under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (1977), the US government targeted individuals and groups responsible for, and complicit in, the perpetration of human rights abuses by freezing the assets of Syrian government officials and other political elites. Sanctions targeting all financial activity from US persons or entities in Syria effectively prohibited all investment and economic activity in Syria (US Department of Treasury, n.d.). These targeted sanctions were intended to stem state-sponsored atrocities against civilians and to ultimately facilitate democratic transition in Syria, as President Obama called on Assad to step down in August 2011 (Sharp and Blanchard 2011). Although targeted sanctions are intended to shield civilians from the economic impacts of a broader sanctions regime, some argue that the sanctions campaign contributed to the humanitarian crisis by effectively criminalizing the activity of the Syrian government as a whole, exacerbating fuel shortages, and complicating the provision of humanitarian assistance (Walker 2016; Samaha 2019). Despite the multilateral effort between the United States, the UK, France, Canada, and the European Union to implement targeted sanctions, President Assad was able to evade negative financial repercussions and remain in power until the fall of his regime in December 2024. Russia and China prevented the implementation of broader UN sanctions against Assad through their role on the UN Security Council (Human Rights First 2012).