Sanctions in reaction to human rights violations

In this chapter I analyse the conditions under which non-state actors (NSAs) have influenced European Union (EU) sanctions in reaction to human rights violations from 1989 to 2000. With the end of the Cold War, sanctions have become an often-used tool in a variety of cases that go beyond ‘soft’ politics. In fact, sanctions are one of the few foreign policy instruments at the disposal of the EU. The intricate mechanics of EU decision making on sanctions, however, are not well documented. Moreover, not much is known about the impact of NSAs on EU decision making in the area of foreign policy. Not-for-profit NSAs are well organized in the field of human rights and can therefore be expected to influence EU reactions to human rights violations, whereas profit-making NSAs can often be expected to have specific interests in preventing the imposition of economic or financial sanctions.