How Ethical are Sanctions?

In the last ten years, it seems that the result of the use of sanctions, (authoritative permission or approval) to induce policy is an alarming amount of humanitarian suffering. The question now arises, is that respectable? If focusing on the weakest portion of the population, and using them to achieve leverage, is what sanctions result in, this is only exploitation, an injustice to human dignity. And this is unethical, unrespectable and certainly, unjust.

However, although historical accounts of sanctions implementations show dire realities as a result of the policy, the problems associated with sanctions are increasingly being studied and understood. Increasingly we can see the development of a new type of sanction, different from the type accounted for in the past, trying to deal with the very unethical problems past sanctions have caused. Therefore it is possible to now see a 'smarter', more ethical sanction developed, in contrast and addition to many types of sanctions which have been imposed in the past. However, the fact that many sanctions as they appear today are still in the same form as before, ignoring humanitarian consequences, mean that sanctions cannot in themselves be viewed as ethical, but rather that the possibility of them being more ethical should not be discounted.

The fact that it is the weakest, most vulnerable of the population which suffer most from sanctions is unjust. The shortages of food, fuel, water, etc. effect those who are least able to defend themselves, or survive easily, such as the elderly, sick, very young, and meanwhile, those who are more privileged are able to keep the resources necessary. Thus because sanctions are effecting the people who will have the least input into policy or military decisions, they are not a just form of policy, as they are targeting the wrong people.

The argument is that sanctions, which display the same characteristics as siege warfare, are condemnable against just war principles, because they are targeting innocent bystanders and thus that they should be subject to the same moral objectives of siege warfare. Although it is argued that sanctions are not 'intending' to kill, but rather are intended as a non violent alternative to war, and so sanctions cannot be compared to a form of warfare and critiqued on ethical criteria of a 'just war', sanctions can still be morally objected because the stakes that are being waged in sanctions are much higher than in warfare, because in waging war, this is done because survival is at stake, whereas sanctions are normally being used to uphold international law, human rights: "the stakes and the justificatory context are quite different". The argument is that sanctions warrant being tolerated, because of the importance of international norms, which they are intended to protect, however, doesn't make sense, in that international law is being enforced through means that are violating international law itself.

You can further dispute ethical sanctions on the basis that the human being instrumentalised as a means of achieving a change of policy is contrary to deontological ethics, where all human beings are characterised by 'dignity', whereby their value is irreplaceable, and cannot be replaced, or exchanged with other things without loss. Using humans as a 'means' to achieve something is against their right of dignity. Therefore, if a populations is being made to suffer for any reason other than to prevent death of lives, such as for the political interest of a foreign state, or to uphold a norm, it is incompatible with deontological ethics. Although she

SO if sanctions are being used to prevent further deaths, deontological critique of ethics wouldn't work

Sanctions that are consented to by the population are not defensible by deontological arguments

You can argue that sanctions are an ethical means of policy because they don't work, there is no justification for them anyway. The historical evidence so far indicates that their success can rarely be expected. The other argument is that even the opposite may occur, that economic damage tends to not actually force a state to change it policy, but often triggers a "rally-round the-flag effect" where leaders in targeted nations use the economic pain brought about from sanctions of foreign nations creates nationalism and political integration rather than disintegration expected. A study of long-term boycotts against Cuba, Israel and Rhodesia shows how even with considerable economic damage, the only political affect was integration. Thus the historical evidence proves sanctions ineffectual does not lead to an ethical policy.

The estimate that one third of the 115 cases they examined were effective, is widely disputed. An observation that in all cases stated as a success, it was also because of other factors, such as military intervention, and that instead only less than 5% of the 115 cases cited brought about political compliance. Thus, the fact that it is widely known before their implementation that they are likely to fail makes the application of sanctions that much more serious a matter, and those who implement them should know better and hold more moral responsibility because they know the consequences of what will happen.

Therefore, because the 'utility calculation' of sanctions is not good, in that the probability of sanctions being effective at stopping military aggression or human rights violations is not high, coupled with the fact that the high probability that sanctions will harm most of the vulnerable population is known proves that sanctions are not a rational, ethical means of policy.

The nature of sanction themselves is unethical because it is an unequal means of policy. Sanctions are tailored to harm nations who have weak economies and are dependent on imports, whilst they are ineffective on large diverse, powerful economies. Because richer states have the resources and money to pay the costs in the short run of not being able to trade, coupled with the ability to make the adjustments in the long run, sanctions are a tool that are only suitable for weak or unstable economies.

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