A new High Level Review Compendium Report shows a changing attitude towards the effect of UN sanctions on counter-terrorism and humanitarian action. The report indicates a need to redefine and reinforce UN sanctions, as well as a greater concern for the protection of humanitarian work.
The High Level Review (HLR) is a member state-led process supported by academics and consultants specializing in the UN Security Council and sanctions. The process, inaugurated in 2014 and conducted over the course of a year, was sponsored by Australia, Finland, Germany, Greece and Sweden, and has involved consultations with a broad range of member states, UN agencies, sanctions committees, and other stakeholders. The HLR intends to “examine the way sanctions are integrated into the UN’s collective security framework, the relationship between UN sanctions and external institutions and instruments related to peace and security, and emerging challenges,” the report states.
The HLR Compendium Report contains 150 recommendations spanning a range of sanctions-related topics. Several of these are significant for those examining the impact of counterterrorism policies on humanitarian work:
According to Naz Modirzadeh, Director of Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, the HLR does not simply encourage dialogue. These references to the “chilling effect” of sanctions and the risk of financial overregulation on humanitarian action, as well as the recommendations to implement the Somalia resolutions as a model (Resolution 2182) for standing exemptions, are important, she says. “This report makes clear that the disposition of the HLR is not to increase the legitimacy of Security Council sanctions and to encourage compliance, but also to reflect upon the overall effect that these measures have on humanitarian work and to consider measures that could be introduced to redress such concerns.”
The HLR could mean a major step forward for the field of counterterrorism and humanitarian engagement, according to Modirzadeh. “The HLR Report recognizes the need to legitimize UN sanctions at the same time as declaring how these goals should not conflict with humanitarian efforts,” she says.