Global Policy Forum

By Nicole Winfield

Facing mounting criticism that its sanctions hit innocent civilians the hardest, the U.N. Security Council is considering changing the way it imposes such punishments.

The proposals include time limits, a partial easing of embargoes to reward good behavior and U.N. punishment for countries that trade with countries under sanctions.

The recommendations are contained in a draft report obtained Thursday by The Associated Press from a council committee that has been working since April to try to improve the effectiveness of sanctions.

Ambassadors decided to launch the reform effort to answer critics who say decade-old sanctions on Iraqis are hurting innocent civilians. They are also reacting to reports of large-scale violations of diamond embargoes against rebels who sell gems to fund their wars in Angola and Sierra Leone.

The draft report is still under negotiation, and the United States has made clear it has problems with several of the most dramatic changes suggested apparently fearing that they could undermine the hard-line U.S. position on Iraq, diplomats say.

The draft dated Wednesday proposes that sanctions always be imposed for limited periods of time and that the council take action to ease sanctions short of suspending or lifting them to reward partial compliance with U.N. demands.

France has been a driving force behind both recommendations, arguing that there must be a ''carrot and stick'' approach to make sanctions work.

France reasons that Iraq hasn't fully abided by U.N. resolutions requiring it to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction because Baghdad believes that no level of disarmament will convince the United States to lift sanctions.

French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte has also proposed that decisions in the council's sanctions committees be taken by majority vote. Currently, decisions require consensus among all 15 ambassadors.

If adopted, that proposal could prove most divisive in the Iraq sanctions committee, where the United States and Britain are frequently at odds with most of the other 13 members and would be outvoted.

The report also recommends that the council consider applying so-called secondary sanctions on countries found to have violated embargoes.

That proposal was first made by a panel of outside experts who last year accused the governments of Burkina Faso and Togo of violating an arms, diamond and fuel ban against Angola's UNITA rebels.

The council currently is considering a U.S.-drafted resolution that would impose a diamond, arms and timber embargo on Liberia for allegedly trading diamonds for arms with Sierra Leone's rebels.

Other proposals in the report are not as controversial.

The draft calls for the United Nations to develop guidelines for often complicated financial sanctions against heads of state who may have hidden bank accounts overseas.

And it calls for the council to consider a permanent way of evaluating the success of sanctions, instead of creating ad hoc panels.