ABSTRACT
Sanctions have created a range of human rights problems, many of which remain unsolved. At the domestic level, the state sanctions the criminal found guilty of an offence whereas the victim is not party to the process. The rationale for human rights analysis is grounded in fundamental human rights precepts. The division of labour between different branches of the government, mandated by the separation of powers, exempts foreign policy decisions from judicial oversights and, thus, also from human rights safeguards embodied in the rule of law. Subsuming sanctions under the rule of law is, therefore, a principal means for preventing the abuses of power made possible by sanctions as long as they remain an extralegal phenomenon. Sanctions thus result in the externalization of responsibility, situating both the specification of conditions for lifting sanctions and the assessment of compliance with them within the province of other states. Activism addressing human rights in other countries became part of domestic politics.
