Sanctions against Non-State Actors

Sanctions against non-State actors (NSAS) are often assumed to be a post-9/11 phenomenon directed against terrorist organizations like Al-Qaida. By examining law and practice at UN, EU and us levels, this chapter shows their earlier origins, but also shows that they were originally closely modelled on sanctions targeted at States. Moreover, as with sanctions against States, sanctions against NSAS were primarily imposed to combat threats to peace and security, although there has been a move at the institutional level to include violations of international law within the conception of what constitutes a threat to international peace and security. The move towards targeting terrorist organizations has further extended the reach of sanctions, in terms of both the obligations of States and the nature and location of the targets, so that such measures have become truly global. It follows that the doctrine of counter-measures, based as it is on bilateral legal relationships between States, is incapable of providing a legal framework to regulate sanctions, so that what is needed is a clearer perception of international public order, and the norms that underpin it, as well as the sanctions that enforce compliance with those norms.