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In 1999, the Security Council approved sanctions against the Taliban. After Sept. 11, the Security Council extended sanctions against Afghanistan to all Al-Qaeda members worldwide. A series of strong resolutions constitutes the UN answer to 9/11, and it creates a uniquely international sanctions regime fraught with legal and humanitarian controversies.
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Although Iran has not violated its commitments under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the UN Security Council has passed several resolutions slapping sanctions on the country as a whole and government officials individually. More appear to be on the way, but the Council is divided. Additionally, observers have cited the severe effects these sanctions have had on Iranian civilians, and called for a diplomatic resolution to concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
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The UN Security Council imposed comprehensive economic sanctions against Iraq on August 6, 1990, just after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. After the war, the sanctions were not lifted. Their continued enforcement debilitated the population but did not destabilize Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime. These sanctions were not terminated until after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which gave the US-UK occupation authority full control over Iraq's oil sales and oil industry. This section covers wide range of sanction issues, including the humanitarian impact, the Oil-for-Food Programme, a criticisms of the sanctions and the debate that took place about their termination.
On November 15, 2004 the Security Council unanimously approved a French-led resolution imposing sanctions against Ivory Coast in response to the Ivory Coast government violation of the shaky 2003 ceasefire between the government in the south and the rebel-held north.
The Security Council has imposed "smart" sanctions against Liberia to force Monrovia to cease support immediately for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra Leone and other armed groups in the region. The sanctions entail an arms embargo, as well as a ban on diamonds and timber and measures to prevent travel by senior members of the Government of Liberia.
Following the 9/11 attacks in the US, Washington put North Korea on the “axis of evil” list and has since contended that North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons poses a serious threat to the world. The Bush administration considers bringing North Korea before the UN Security Council to impose economic sanctions, but China, North Korea’s main ally and trading partner, has previously indicated that it will likely veto any sanctions on Pyongyang.
In response to the failure of all armed parties in Sudan to comply with previous Security Council resolutions calling fo “an immediate halt to the fighting in the Darfur region,” the Council has imposed an imposes an arms embargo on all non-governmental combatants in Darfur, including the Janjawid militias, and ordered a travel ban and a freeze on all assets for human rights violators in Sudan. The resolution does not include an oil embargo, which China would almost certainly have vetoed.
Previous UN Sanctions Regimes
The UN also imposed sanctions against
Angola,
Burundi,
Iraq,
Ethiopia and Eritrea,
Libya,
Nigeria,
Rwanda,
Sierra Leone,
Former Yugoslavia, and
Somalia.
