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The point of origin for many previous humanitarian assessments under sanctions has been a request in one of the resolutions/directives of the sanctioning authority for an assessment of the humanitarian and/or socio-economic implications of the imposed measures.
In the case of United Nations sanctions, such requests are frequently included in the text of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, although in the past the United Nations Secretariat has also undertaken assessments of thirdparty sanctions. For example, the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs undertook an assessment of the humanitarian impact of regional (i.e., non-UN-imposed) sanctions on Burundi in 1997.35
The sanctioning authority’s text of the relevant resolution or directive can describe the scope and focus of such assessments. In the case of United Nations Security Council–mandated assessments, the Council has chosen varying degrees of “scope” for humanitarian assessments (e.g.“humanitarian”; “humanitarian and socio-economic”); has mandated different entities to undertake humanitarian assessments (e.g. UN Secretariat, a Panel of Experts); and has requested a variety of reporting procedures (e.g. direct to the Council, through the Sanctions Committee).
By being more precise about the scope and focus of assessments under sanctions, the sanctioning authority can assist those tasked with performing the assessments in identifying possible unintended consequences of the sanctions.
Acknowledging the need to identify monitoring agencies for sanctions and to specify the duties of these agencies, the report of the Interlaken Process on targeted financial sanctions suggested the following draft text about the monitoring of sanctions that might be included in United Nations Security Council resolutions:
“(—) to review the humanitarian [economic,] [social,] [political,] [and] [security] implications of the measures imposed by this resolution and to report back to the Council within [amount of time] of the adoption of this resolution with an assessment and recommendations, to report at regular intervals thereafter on any humanitarian [economic,] [social,] [political,] [and] [security] implications [and to present a comprehensive report on [this/these] issue(s) and any recommendations no later than [amount of time] prior to the expiration of these measures]…” 36
Other intergovernmental groups or national governments might also adopt this language in their resolutions or directives.
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