ABSTRACT
With the creation of the United Nations (UN), States have established a centralized sanction mechanism to preserve peace and security. This mechanism is based on the action of the Security Council which can adopt economic or military sanctions. The UN sanction mechanism is based on Chapter VII of the UN Charter on action with respect to threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression. The Security Council may impose a range of economic sanctions in the form of trade embargoes, air blockades, freezing of assets, travel bans, and so on. However, the Security Council faces difficulties in enforcing its sanctioning power. Some attempts to enforce its sanctioning power have been blocked by a veto by one of the permanent Member States of the Security Council. The risk is then posed to the adoption of unilateral sanctions by States. When the Security Council was able to impose sanctions, it was criticized because of the side effects of such sanctions on the civilian population and/or their lack of effectiveness. For these reasons, the UN has initiated a reform of the sanctions mechanism to make it smarter and more democratic. Today, such reforms are necessary to strengthen the credibility of the UN, whose actions sometimes lack impartiality and lawfulness.
