| Field Guidelines
This set of Field Guidelines is intended to provide guidance to
humanitarian practitioners in identifying and measuring possible
humanitarian consequences of sanctions. This document is a concise,
field-oriented version of a partner publication—an IASC handbook
entitled “Assessing the Humanitarian Implications of Sanctions”—which
provides more detailed information on how to assess potential impacts
of sanctions on living conditions.
The Guidelines presented here are relevant to a range of sanctions,
including: arms embargoes, financial sanctions, travel-related sanctions
and targeted trade sanctions. At the core of these Guidelines
is a sanctions assessment methodology, which facilitates evaluation of
possible humanitarian consequences of sanctions. The methodology
can be applied in advance of, during or following sanctions, and
aims to address two key challenges associated with humanitarian
assessments under sanctions: (I) accurate evaluation of the current
status of humanitarian conditions, and (II) separation of the effects of
sanctions on health and well-being from those due to other causes. more....... |
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These Field Guidelines and the companion Sanctions Assessment Handbook complement
the reference documents produced under the three international processes
on more effective and targeted sanctions—the Interlaken, Bonn-Berlin and
Stockholm Processes—undertaken between 1998 and 2003.
The final report of the Stockholm Process on the Implementation of Targeted Sanctions
(2003) noted:
“…[T]he routine undertaking of periodic assessments of humanitarian,
social, and economic impacts on third parties during the course of sanctions
implementation is desirable and often more feasible [than preassessments].
Aside from providing an additional way of evaluating the
overall impact of sanctions, well-designed on-going assessments would
be useful in distinguishing the impact of sanctions from other causes of
humanitarian suffering and economic hardship, thereby reducing one of
the main sources of opposition to sanctions generally.”
The Report went on to recommend:
“These [regular humanitarian, social, and economic impact] assessments
should proceed under an established methodology . . . taking into account
the specificities of each sanctions situation.”
The methodology presented here, developed by OCHA in conjunction with the
Inter-Agency Standing Committee, serves to fulfil the need for a standardized
methodology to assess the potential humanitarian implications of sanctions, with
a view to making sanctions more effective.
OCHA—Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
United Nations
S-3600
New York, NY 10017
United States of America
Tel.: +1 212 963-1234
Fax: +1 212 963-1312
E-mail: ochany@un.org
Web: ochaonline.un.org
View a pdf copy of the Field Guidelines. Field Guidelines
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