Affiliated Investigators: Peter Romaniuk
Click to download a PDF of Addressing Challenges to Targeted Sanctions
The Project is proud to present a new bibliography for targeted sanctions research. Click here to access the document.
The Targeted Sanctions Toolkit is available online. Click here for access to an updated database of UN sanctions (Fall 2007) and other features.
For information on the related Targeting Terrorist Finances Project, please click here.
Sanctions are an essential instrument of United Nations efforts to maintain international peace and security. Since the experience of comprehensive sanctions against Iraq in the early 1990s, the United Nations has increasingly embraced targeted sanctions as a means of mitigating the negative humanitarian impact of broad economic sanctions on civilian populations. Targeted sanctions include financial, travel, aviation, arms and commodities restrictions on individuals or corporate entities with the objective of applying coercive pressure on transgressing parties, leaders and the network of elites and entities who support them. They aim to change behavior or prevent actions contrary to international peace and security, as in the case of sanctions against the Taliban and Al-Qaida. The Watson Institute’s Targeted Sanctions Project investigates the use of targeted sanctions to apply coercive pressure on transgressing parties or to create incentives for changes in behavior.
Project investigators are actively involved with the United Nations in efforts to strengthen the targeted sanctions instrument. Working with international experts and the United Nations Secretariat, project investigators have developed a manual for the design of targeted financial sanctions, studied the legislative and regulatory systems of states to develop best practices in the implementation of targeted sanctions, and conducted workshops and simulations for the UN Security Council. Most recently, the project surveyed UN Sanctions Committee practices and recommended measures to strengthen targeted sanctions through fair and clear procedures.
The Targeted Sanctions Project evolved from work begun in 1998 on improving Targeted Financial Sanctions (click here for website).
This website contains information about:
• Activities of the TS Project,
• Publications of the TS Project,
• Related Links
ACTIVITIES OF THE TS PROJECT
| • July 2007 | Web release of the Targeted Sanctions Bibliography. Click here for access. |
| • April 2007 | Sue Eckert participates in the symposium titled "Enhancing the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Sanctions" at the United Nations, New York. Click here for the symposium report. Email the Joan Kroc Institute for prepared statements and/or rapporteurs' reports. |
| • December 2006 | Security Council adoption of Resolution 1730 establishing a new focal point mechanism for delisting requests, part of the recommendations in the Watson report titled Strengthening Targeted Sanctions through Fair and Clear Procedures. Seminar by Biersteker for the senior staff of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on targeted sanctions and human rights issues, Geneva. |
| • November 2006 | Update and release of Targeted Sanctions Toolkit (formerly the Targeted Sanctions Index) online. Click here or see above for access. Strengthening Targeted Sanctions through Fair and Clear Procedures report to workshop on Human Rights and International Cooperation in Counter-Terrorism (co-sponsored by the OSCE, the UNOHCHR, and the Government of Liechtenstein), Vaduz, Lichtenstein. Presentation of paper on strengthening targeted sanctions, at the Center for International Studies, University of Zurich (ETH), and the International Center at St. Gallen University, St. Gallen, November. |
| • September 2006 | Briefing of the Security Council by chairs of the 1267, 1373 and 1540 Committees, with discussion of the need for new delisting procedures. See UN press release here. |
| • June 2006 | Security Council discussion of Fair and Clear Procedures as part of Strengthening International Law session (June 22, 2006). The report was made an official document of the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council (A/60/887-S/2006/331). See report here. Paper by Biersteker on the emergent Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regime for regulating formal sector transactions, in the Global Economic Governance seminar at Oxford University. |
| • March 2006 | Presentation of white paper entitled “Strengthening Targeted Sanctions through Clear and Fair Procedures,” making specific recommendations for the improvement of United Nations targeted sanctions. |
| • February 2006 | Participated in workshop organized by the UN Office of Legal Affairs on the human rights legal obligations of the UN Security Council. |
| • January 2006 | Project leads a two-day round table discussion at the German House, New York, bringing together legal experts, UN representatives and scholars to discuss the draft white paper on strengthening targeted sanctions by addressing due process concerns. |
| • November 2005 | Briefing of UN Security Council’s Informal Working Group on General Issues of Sanctions by Sue Eckert on combating terrorism through the means of targeted sanctions. |
| • September 2005 | Thomas Biersteker briefs the UN Security Council’s Informal Working Group on General Issues of Sanctions on targeted sanctions. |
| • November 2004 | Workshop on recent developments in the crafting of targeted sanctions for the Danish mission to the UN. |
| • July 2004 | Second workshop of UN Security Council at the Watson Institute sponsored by the governments of Switzerland, Germany, and Sweden. Participants review developments in the implementation and use of targeted sanctions and take part in a sanctions simulation exercise. |
| • May 2003 | Project hosts representatives from the UN Security Council and other members of the UN at the Watson Institute to review sanctions reform processes of the Swiss, German, and Swedish governments since 1998 and take part in a sanctions exercise. |
| • October 2001 | With support of the Swiss government, the team presents to the UN Security Council, “Targeted Financial Sanctions: A Manual for Design and Implementation—Contributions from the Interlaken Process,” to assist in the design of Security Council resolutions imposing targeted financial sanctions, and provide practical guidance for countries establishing the national legal and administrative mechanisms to implement such sanctions. |
| • July 2001 | Initial draft of “Targeted Financial Sanctions: A Manual for Design and Implementation—Contributions from the Interlaken Process,” discussed at the UN in New York. |
| • April 2001 | Project collaborates with Naval War College to analyze Restructuring Sanctions against Iraq (replacing comprehensive sanctions with a targeted sanctions and inspections regime). |
| • May 2000 | The project collaborates with the U.S. Naval War College on a simulation to explore the major challenges to the establishment of an effective targeted financial sanctions regime. |
| • May/June 1998 | Roundtables on Targeting Financial Sanctions convened jointly with Council on Foreign Relations in New York. |
PUBLICATIONS OF THE TS PROJECT
“Strengthening Targeted Sanctions Through Fair and Clear Procedures,” Thomas J. Biersteker and Sue E. Eckert. (Providence: Watson Institute for International Studies, 2006)
“Targeted Sanctions and State Capacity: Towards a Framework for National Level Implementation,” Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, Aaron Halegua, and Peter Romaniuk, in Peter Wallensteen and Carina Staibano (eds.) International Sanctions: Between Words and Wars in the Global System (Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, 2005)
“Consensus from the Bottom Up? Assessing the Influence of the Sanctions Reform Process,” Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, Aaron Halegua, and Peter Romaniuk, in Peter Wallensteen and Carina Staibano (eds.) International Sanctions: Between Words and Wars in the Global System (Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, 2005)
“Report on the Workshop on UN Sanctions Reform,” convened at the Watson Institute for members of the UN Security Council, July 16-17, 2004, by the Targeted Financial Sanctions Project, Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, and Peter Romaniuk, December 2004
“Background Paper on Targeted Sanctions” Prepared for U.N Security Council Workshop, July 16-17, 2004, Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, and Peter Romaniuk, July 2004
“Émergence, évolution, effets et défis des sanctions ciblées,” Thomas J. Biersteker, Géoéconomie, Revue trimestrielle, N. 30, été 2004 (Click here for English Version).
“Report on the Workshop on UN Sanctions Reform,” convened at the Watson Institute for members of the UN Security Council, May 2-3, 2003, by the Targeted Financial Sanctions Project, Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, Peter Romaniuk, and Aaron Halegua, November 2003
“Supporting Member State Capacity to Implement Targeted Sanctions,” Part III of Making Targeted Sanctions Effective: Guidelines for the Implementation of UN Policy Options, Edited by Peter Wallensteen, Carina Staibano, and Mikael Eriksson (Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, February 2003)
“Targeting Financial Sanctions: Harmonizing National Legislation and Regulatory Practices,” (Summary of Results) Thomas J. Biersteker, Natalie Reid, Sue E. Eckert, and Jarat Chopra, in David Cortright and George Lopez (eds.) Smart Sanctions: TowardEffective and Humane Sanctions Reform (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002)
“Targeted Financial Sanctions: A Manual for Design and Implementation.” Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, and Peter Romaniuk (Providence: Watson Institute for International Studies, 2001)
“A Guide to the Development and Implementation of Targeted Financial Sanctions,” Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, Aaron Halegua, Natalie Reid, and Peter Romaniuk, prepared for the Targeted Financial Sanctions Workshop hosted by the Swiss Mission to the United Nations in New York, July 2001
“Restructuring Sanctions against Iraq,” Workshop Report, Watson Institute for International Studies and Decision Strategies Department of the US Naval War College, April 2001
“Targeted Financial Sanctions Simulation: Exercise Report: A Report of the Proceedings of the Targeted Financial Sanctions Simulation,” Newport, RI, US Naval War College, May 11-13, 2000, Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, Lawrence Modisett, Natalie Reid, and Paul Taylor. Decision Strategies Department Report 01-2, Naval War College, Newport, RI (December 2000)
"Targeted Financial Sanctions: A Primer,” Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, and Natalie Reid, background paper for the Targeted Financial Sanctions Simulation Exercise, Newport, RI, Naval War College, May 2000
RELATED LINKS
Special Program on the Implementation of Targeted Sanctions (SPITS) – “Stockholm Process”
UN Security Council Sanctions Committees Website
UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (1373) Website
Security Council Report Website
Fourth Freedom Forum: Sanctions and Security Website
US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control Website