IRD Department Organizes National Workshop on Smart Sanctions in International Law
In collaboration with the National Construction and Development Foundation, the International Relations and Diplomacy Department, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics at Tishk International University, organized a National Workshop on Smart Sanctions in International Law, held on February 22nd, 2023. The workshop commenced with a welcome address by the moderator, Mr. Firsat Shakur Omer, where he stated the topic of the workshop and introduced the two distinguished speakers, Dr. Mohammad Salih Mustafa, Head of IRD Department and Dr. Aras Abdullah, Legal Consultant and University Lecturer.
The first distinguished speaker, Dr. Mohammad Salih Mustafa, acknowledged the presence of the dignitaries and explained how economic sanctions have been used against specific regimes, where contrary to their objectives of weakening the regimes, they have badly weakened the citizens of those countries. He gave a good explanation of how smart sanctions can be placed on individuals, institutions, and organizations as an alternative to the classical or comprehensive sanctions that have a damaging impact on the entire citizens of the countries under sanctions. This, therefore, weakens the people and safeguards the regimes from any regime change by the people. In this context, the international economic sanction on the Iraqi people during the 1990s, where, in addition to that, there was another sanction by the former Iraqi regime on the people of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Finally, in Europe, through a well-established banking system, money laundering and funding of terrorism have been limited to an excellent extent. However, due to the lack of such a kind of banking system in Iraq, smart sanctions cannot be in place, and cash smuggling might continue, possibly resulting in more demand than supply and the high value of US dollars in the Iraqi market.
The second distinguished speaker, Dr. Aras Abdullah, built on the foundation laid by the first distinguished speaker and explained in detail smart sanctions, their modern history, types and the current international legal framework of smart sanctions, as provided in the Charter of the United Nations. He stated that sanctions are imposed not only on states but also on individuals and organizations that sponsor terrorism and fund the activities of terrorist organizations around the globe. Smart sanctions could be unilateral and collective and are powerful in achieving their set objectives, although not in all cases. He further took the participants through how Switzerland, in 1998, initiated a series of conferences with the Interlaken Process, which focused on the issue of targeted financial sanctions. The results of the Interlaken Process were published in the form of a manual in 2001, and Germany and Sweden organized a series of further seminars on targeted sanctions. In this regard, the Bonn-Berlin Process focused on travel and air traffic-related sanctions, as well as on arms embargoes, while the Stockholm Process covered the practical feasibility of implementing and monitoring targeted sanctions.
The following recommendations were offered by both speakers:
A more universal, impartial and effective international monitoring body on smart sanctions should exist.
The United Nations Security Council should be restructured in order to have balanced and fair representation, especially from the global south (developing world).
International law should be fully respected and enforced by all states worldwide. Emphasis should henceforth be on smart, targeted or specific sanctions instead of comprehensive ones.
A Q&A session followed, and the two distinguished speakers responded to all the questions that they were asked by the participants adequately. The participants consisted of TIU academics, senior government officials, members of the public, media, students, etc. Finally, certificates of appreciation were given to the distinguished speakers and moderators for their hard work and effort.
