Sanctions

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Corporate accountability and Iranian drones in the Ukraine war: Could sanctions lead to prosecutions for international crimes?

November 23, 2022

Throughout the Ukraine conflict, allegations have been made against foreign businesses for providing various types of direct or indirect support for Russia’s military attacks. Most recently, firms were placed under US sanctions on 15 November 2022 for ‘the production or ongoing transfer to Russia of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles used by Russia [in] devastating attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine’. In the current circumstances of the war in Ukraine, the provision of military assistance to Russia probably violates international law (see here and here). Could it also be a basis to hold individuals criminally responsible? Might investigations deter others from supporting Russia? And would such prosecutions even be a good idea? Corporate accountability for Ukraine: backing-up sanctions with international criminal law As evidenced by the US designations of 15 November 2022, the primary international response to external support for Russia has been one of diplomacy, undergirded by the threat or actual imposition of international sanctions. The idea of prosecuting…

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The European Union’s Sanctioning of Russian Military Officers: An Urge for Caution

August 5, 2022

Introduction As of 21 July 2022, the European Union (EU) has adopted seven rounds of restrictive measures (commonly referred to as ‘sanctions’) against the Russian Federation following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The latest two rounds (adopted on 3 June and 21 July 2022, respectively) – in addition to containing…

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The Human Right to Food, Freedom from Hunger, and SDG 2: Global Food Crisis and Starvation Tactics from the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

June 9, 2022

Much has been written and reported in the past 100 days since the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, regarding all manner of mass atrocity crimes, continuing egregious human rights violations, war crimes and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and other sources of international humanitarian law.  In February, I wrote about international law duties…

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Self-sanctioning Russia

May 11, 2022

Private Supplements to Public Regulation Commercial actors around the world are reacting to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by voluntarily reducing their exposure to Russia-connected trades. Although the economic sanctions imposed by the EU, UK, US, Japan, and other major powers have been rapid and sweeping, the deliberate choice by the business community to willingly de-couple…

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Is There a Legal Duty to Cooperate in Implementing Western Sanctions on Russia?

April 25, 2022

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States, Europe and other allies imposed sanctions on Russia for violating the prohibition against the use of force, a peremptory norm owed to the international community as a whole. While the ability of these sanctions per se to put a swift end to Russia’s invasion has been doubted (see…

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