At its October, 1997 meeting, the CWSW Unit Committee began a discussion on the "freedom of the church to respond to humanitarian needs in countries isolated by U.S. government policies." A study group was created to produce a report for the Unit Committee and subsequently the NCCCUSA Executive Board or General Assembly. The following report of the study group provides brief background on economic sanctions, summarizes the study group process, and offers recommendations for Unit Committee action.

 What are Sanctions?

Sanctions are the popular term for a menu of possible diplomatic, communications, and economic measures used by governments, intergovernmental bodies, and non-governmental entities to force changes (usually but not exclusively on the part of a government) in policies and behavior. Sanctions cover a wide variety of measures from moratoria on diplomatic contacts to trade embargoes. Consumer boycotts and disinvestment programs are related measures. Sanctions can be limited and targeted, such as sports boycotts or restrictions on air travel, or they can be comprehensive, as in the case of trade embargoes. Sanctions can be unilateral (involving a single government) or multilateral (involving more than one). The term sanctions is most frequently associated with economic measures that are intended to inflict economic damage and thereby force a government or other entity to change its behavior.

How Have Sanctions Affected CWSW?

By virtue of their widespread use today, sanctions profoundly affect CWSW's response to human need either directly or through its partners in every region of the world. (The four specific experiences summarized below are described in greater detail in Annex II.)

U.S. sanctions have been applied to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) for over 40 years, severely curtailing relationships between U.S. citizens and North Koreans. While less stringent today, sanctions still impede aid efforts and hamper reconciliation. CWSW and our partner, the Korean Christians Federation, have called on the U.S. government to lift sanctions and normalize relations.

UN Security Council sanctions on Iraq have had a devastating humanitarian impact on Iraq's people while having little effect on Saddam Hussein's hold on power or the lifestyle of the ruling elite. In response to our Middle East partner, the Middle East Council of Churches, and to the intense suffering caused by prolonged sanctions, CWSW has called for the removal of non-military sanctions.

Partially lifted under the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) were viewed by our regional partners as a response to guilt feelings on the part of the U.S. and Western European governments over their inability to find a solution to the violence in the region. For Church World Service, this experience - in which our partners were themselves caught up in the nationalism generated by political leaders - emphasized the importance of strengthening our ability to assist partners in conflict resolution.

The long-lasting, very stringent U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, which prohibits sale of food and severely restricts sales of medicine and medical supplies, has virtually destroyed a formerly excellent health care system and seriously increased malnutrition. CWSW and our partner, the Cuban Council of Churches, have called for lifting the embargo. Until the embargo is lifted, we continue to press for interim measures that ease certain restrictions.

How Has CWSW Responded to the Issue of Economic Sanctions?

Because of these experiences and the growing public concern about the intense and increasing human suffering caused by sanctions, in Iraq and Cuba in particular, the CWSW Unit Committee set up a study group at its October 1997 meeting. The study group was initially asked to examine the relationship between freedom of religion and sanctions as a possible basis for challenging U.S. unilateral sanctions.

In reviewing this relationship, the study group had before it 1) a document entitled "Enemy" States and The Ministry of the Churches, A Time for Re-evaluation and 2) a memorandum by the NCCCUSA Special Counsel for Religious and Civil Liberties (see Annex IV). The document argued that the constitutional guarantee of free exercise of religion requires the U.S. government to allow the Church to carry out its ministry freely. Therefore the Church has the right to provide humanitarian aid and minister in other ways to people in countries deemed "enemies" of the United States, without being forced to seek exemption from U.S. government restrictions. The Special Counsel's memorandum acknowledged the merit of the argument but cautioned that this was not a propitious time to test such a position in U.S. courts.

Aware that various other dimensions of sanctions required consideration, the study group decided to broaden its scope. As a next step the group hosted a staff workshop on March 4, 1998 with Larry Minear, co-editor of Political Gain and Civilian Pain: Humanitarian Impacts of Economic Sanctions (see Bibliography), which examines four case studies (South Africa, Yugoslavia, Haiti, Iraq) and presents a theoretical and historical perspective on the use of multilateral sanctions. One overall theme of the book is that multilateral sanctions have been of varying effectiveness in achieving their political goals while frequently inflicting disproportionate civilian pain. Mr. Minear also referenced another study, Toward More Humane and Effective Sanctions Management: Enhancing the Capacity of the UN System (see Bibliography). This study raises major concerns about UN management of sanctions, including the need to be more precise and consistent in defining humanitarian exemptions. The study also proposes a methodology for assessing the potential humanitarian impact of sanctions before they are imposed and for monitoring the impact once sanctions are in place.

Discussion at the workshop focused around several key questions: ethical considerations of sanctions, especially "civilian pain"; political dimensions of sanctions (imposed by powerful on weak); the need to improve the implementation of sanctions, especially to develop more precise guidelines for humanitarian exemptions; and the role of CWSW as a humanitarian assistance agency. While no definitive conclusions or recommendations emerged from the workshop, a number of issues were commended to the study group for further examination (a summary of the March 4, 1998 Workshop on Economic Sanctions is available on request).

Underlying the discussions of the study group and the March staff workshop was the judgment that the impact of sanctions on innocents -- and on the basic right to life of innocents -- is the key moral criteria against which sanctions must be measured.

Thus, the recommendations which follow are based on the conclusion that sanctions must be considered very carefully from the perspective of protecting innocents, and therefore must be reserved as an alternative of last resort to the use of military force.

It is commonly acknowledged, on the other hand, that sanctions are a blunt instrument. Although they are an alternative to war, they can cause massive human suffering and therefore are not to be undertaken lightly. A growing body of literature from intergovernmental, religious, academic, and humanitarian circles offers critiques of sanctions and proposes guidelines for determining whether and when sanctions can be a legitimate policy tool (see Annex III, Bibliography). There are few historical instances of use of sanctions that scholars are willing to name unqualified successes (the use of sanctions against South Africa to end apartheid is probably the most frequently cited); there are many instances where objectives have been only partially achieved, while "unintended" consequences, especially the suffering of ordinary citizens, have created serious moral dilemmas.

The following are widely accepted conclusions about the effectiveness of sanctions:

• Sanctions are most likely to succeed if objectives are limited.
• They are least successful at promoting the fall of regimes or overthrow of dictators. They may have the opposite effect of rallying national anger and frustration and increasing support for a regime.
• Sanctions, however, frequently have weakened a target government's ability to carry out aggressive plans by depriving it of resources.
• There are a number of serious problems related to implementing sanctions: Goals may shift or be unclear. Sanctions may have unintended adverse economic impact on third countries and/or the sanctioning country or countries. Even if they are multilateral, they may be unevenly applied or not applied at all by some countries. Implementation is bureaucratically complicated, which increases the likelihood of adverse side effects.
• "Sanctions tend not to distinguish between those responsible for perpetrating an unlawful act and innocent victims of a situation over which they have no control."

Further discussion within the study group led to the decision to draft a report that would: 1) share examples of CWSW on-the-ground experience with sanctions; 2) focus on the humanitarian impact of sanctions, as a key concern of CWSW arising from its own experience; and 3) lift up the substantial work already done by churches and faith-based agencies with respect to ethical guidelines about the use of sanctions, especially the World Council of Churches Memorandum and Recommendations on the Application of Sanctions, adopted in September 1995 (see Annex V).

Debate within the study group focused around the following ethical and practical considerations:

• Sanctions should be used to enforce compliance with international law and humanitarian principles, not used by a state to justify aggressive actions or individual foreign policy initiatives.
• Decisions about sanctions should be made on a case-by-case basis, with an initial presumption against them.
• Before sanctions are imposed, consideration should be given to the potential for lasting suffering they could impose on the general population.
• Sanctions should be targeted carefully against the offending regime and not used as a blunt instrument against an innocent populace. Particular attention needs to be given to the potential of sanctions to produce the opposite effect of that intended, i.e., to strengthen the hand of dictatorial regimes against their people and weaken popular opposition to authoritarian rulers.
• Universal and standard humanitarian exemptions for sanctions regimes should be promoted with the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. government, and other relevant entities.
• Regular reviews of sanctions regimes should be featured in each new sanctions arrangement and, once imposed, systematic monitoring should occur to avoid and, when necessary, redress adverse humanitarian impacts.
• Continued monitoring is needed to ensure that sanctions are not used only against weaker countries or those perceived by larger powers as "dangerous."
• When sanctions approach or amount to economic warfare, consideration should be given to the applicability of principles relating to "just war" (right intention, justifiable cause, legitimate authority, declaration of aims, proportionality, and reasonable chance of success) and/or those identified by the WCC memorandum.

The study group decided to include action recommendations in its report and to bring the report to the attention of the September 1998 Unit Committee meeting. The group found the WCC Memorandum a good starting point for its recommendations.

The study group concluded, however, that its recommendations should go beyond the considerations in the WCC document to address more explicitly the issues of humanitarian exemptions and the need for assessment of humanitarian impacts prior to imposition of sanctions. In this connection the study group referred back to the conclusions and guidelines adopted by the UN General Assembly (see Annex I, Historical Background) and the study, Toward More Humane and Effective Sanctions Management: Enhancing the Capacity of the United Nations System, to formulate specific recommendations.

Recommendations

The study group:

• Commends to the attention of the Unit Committee the World Council of Churches Memorandum and Recommendations on the Application of Sanctions (see Annex V) as providing important guidelines for judging the appropriateness of sanctions in specific cases and assessing their effectiveness. The study group requests the Unit Committee to commend the Memorandum to the attention of the NCCC Executive Board or General Assembly. In particular, the study group calls attention to the following eleven ethical criteria adopted by the WCC:

Decision-making Criteria

1. Sanctions must be part of a broader strategy of peacemaking.

2. Sanctions should be adopted only in circumstances of flagrant and persistent violations of international law.

3. Sanctions should have a clearly defined purpose.

4. Sanctions have their greatest legitimacy and moral authority when authorized by a competent multilateral authority.

5. The good achieved must not be exceeded by anticipated harm (proportionality).

6. There must be a reasonable prospect that their stated purpose of effecting political change will be achieved.

7. Sanctions are effective only to the extent that they are consistently and thoroughly applied.

Operational Criteria

8.  Sanctions should be directed as precisely as possible to those bodies and leaders most responsible for the violation. Humanitarian assistance should be made available to the general population.

9. The progress and effects of sanctions should be continually monitored by an independent and impartial multilateral monitoring body.

10. Enforcers should be prepared to address the hurts and needs of victims in the sanctioned country and affected third countries.

11. Open communication should be maintained with government leaders and civic groups in the sanctioned country.

Requests the Unit Committee to call upon CWSW staff and others associated with CWSW to:

• Share the World Council of Churches Memorandum with public officials reviewing sanctions policy as providing important ethical guidelines for the consideration of sanctions;
• Promote with the UN and the US government use of indicators (public health, economics, migration, governance & civil society, humanitarian activities) for assessing humanitarian impacts prior to imposing sanctions and for monitoring impacts once sanctions are in place.
• Develop a list of humanitarian exemptions (food, medicine, medical supplies and equipment, basic school supplies, agricultural supplies and equipment) and call upon the UN Security Council, the U.S. government, and other relevant bodies to incorporate those exemptions in any and all sanctions regimes. Insist that exemptions apply to trade as well as aid.
• Call for systematic monitoring of sanctions to assess and redress adverse humanitarian impact and for regular review to determine when conditions for removal of sanctions are met. Also, call for consensus to be required, on a regular basis, to continue a UN Security Council sanctions regime.
• Work more closely with CWSW member churches who have developed conflict resolution skills in order to increase CWSW capacity to assist the efforts of partner churches to address historic conflicts in their countries.

Members of the CWSW Study Group on the Humanitarian Impact of Sanctions
Jennifer Butler, PCUSA UN Office
Dennis Frado, ELCA/World Community Office
Robert Herr, Mennonite Central Committee
Oscar Bolioli, NCC/CWSW Latin American and Caribbean Office
Carol Capps, NCC/CWSW Office on Development Policy
Linda Hartke, NCC/CWSW Director of Operations
Victor Hsu, NCC/CWSW East Asia and Pacific Office
Oliver Thomas, NCC/OGS Public Policy Office
Kathy Todd, NCC/CWSW International Justice and Human Rights
David Weaver, NCC/CWSW Middle East Office