wfn.org | Sanctions Discussion at NCCCUSA Executive Board

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WHEN ARE SANCTIONS ETHICAL?
NCC EXECUTIVE BOARD DELIBERATES

CHICAGO, Ill., Nov. 9 ---- When should churches support sanctions to
pressure a government to change its behavior?  There were no easy answers
to that question today when the National Council of Churches Executive
Board wrestled with the issue.

In the churches' struggle for global peace and justice, sanctions are
conceived as a middle ground between "bomb or do nothing in the face of
social evil," said guest speaker David Cortright, President of the Fourth
Freedom Forum, Goshen, Ind., and Professor of Peace Studies at the
University of Notre Dame.  "That's how it should work.  But we have a long 
way to go.  Sanctions are a flawed instrument, misapplied, poorly enforced
and monitored." 

Questions about the effectiveness and humanitarian cost of sanctions are
being raised now in the international community after a period in which
they were in vogue.  Churches supported sanctions against the South African
apartheid regime, and viewed sanctions against Iraq as an alternative to
war in the Gulf Crisis. 

"Sanctions got applied with increasing frequency," Dr. Cortright said, "to
the point where the United States has applied sanctions on 75 countries -
about half the world's population - usually at the behest of Congress,
often with little or no political impact, often with severe humanitarian
impact."

In the case of Iraq, eight years of economic sanctions have killed more
than 200,000 of Iraq's preschoolers, he said, commenting, "Never in history 
has a country been subjected to such prolonged strangulation."  But a
military strike by - or against - Iraq also would take many innocent lives.
And if the United Nations walks away from Iraq, its authority to deal with
future aggressors would suffer.

What options does the international community have in the midst of this
wrenching dilemma?  "I think we need a middle ground - targeted sanctions,"
Dr. Cortright said, "along with a strengthening of humanitarian relief and
monitoring.  General civilian trade sanctions should be lifted on
humanitarian grounds alone.  The arms embargo must be maintained, enforced
and strengthened until Iraq complies.  Offer carrots along with sticks (to)
lead the Iraqi regime to further conciliation."

In December, the Fourth Freedom Forum will co-sponsor a symposium at the
United Nations on "targeted" or "smart" sanctions, which focus pressure "on
those responsible for the behavior we are trying to correct," he said.
Examples include freezing the assets of key decision makers, restricting 
their travel and banning them from international activities and
organizations.

Some dismiss such sanctions as "window dressing," but they proved effective
against South Africa's apartheid regime, Dr. Cortright said.  And they
don't hurt the most vulnerable populations, who suffer most from broad
sanctions like comprehensive trade embargoes but don't have international
bank accounts.

When Dr. Cortright talked about "targeted sanctions," something clicked for
several Executive Board members who'd participated in boycotts and sit- ins
during the civil rights struggle.  "In the sit-ins, that's exactly what we
did," reflected United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, the NCC's Immediate 
Past President.  "It was a targeted sanction.  To me that makes a lot of
sense."

Dr. Cortright praised the just-published Report of the Church World Service
and Witness Study Group on the Humanitarian Impact of Economic Sanctions,
being offered to the NCC's Executive Board and General Assembly as a
resource.  

Echoing themes explored in the report, he outlined necessary elements for
sanctions to be ethical and legitimate, including blanket exemptions for
food and medicine and "civilian immunity.while they may cause civilians
some hardship, they should never threaten life or health."

They must be multilateral, he said, proportionate to the political gain
being sought, and intended to bring about a negotiated settlement, "never
to punish or starve an opponent into submission."  And they should be used
"as a last resort, after all other options and with a genuine commitment to
a diplomatic solution..A creative diplomacy offers incentives, rewards for
cooperation, pressure for non-cooperation, and is designed to lead to
peaceful resolution of disputes."

Dennis Frado of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's World
Community Office and moderator of the NCC Executive Board's "Ecumenical
Discernment on Sanctions as Foreign Policy," said the goal for the 
discussion was to seek ways member communions can promote a discussion of
issues related to sanctions at the congregational level.

"We also want to communicate better with our partners overseas when
multilateral sanctions are being considered or imposed, and provoke some
thinking and discussion on under which circumstances, if ever, churches
should support sanctions to seek a change in a government's policy," he
said.

A review has been launched in the U.S. Senate on the use of sanctions,
noted the Rev. Dr. Albert Pennybacker, NCC Associate General Secretary for
Public Policy, offering the ecumenical community "an opportunity to make a
timely intervention from the international and humanitarian point of view."
Dr. Cortright added that a Lugar-Hamilton initiative seeks a comprehensive
policy framework for the use of sanctions.

-end-