7. UN Sanctions Measures

Against the background of intense political struggles between P5 and other UN member states, UN sanctions measures gradually evolved. With the major shift from comprehensive to targeted sanctions measures occurring in the mid 1990s, broad economic bans could now be refined to include individual financial and travel restrictions, as well as targeting of very specific commodities. Important new opportunities also opened in connection with embargoes on conventional and unconventional arms because specific facilitators of sanctions violations such as financiers, transporters, or intermediaries for customs brokering could be targeted as well. However, perhaps the most important innovation in the UN sanctions system came with very specific and elaborate exemptions for arms embargoes, assets freeze, and travel bans. These were motivated by humanitarian concerns and the need for sanctions to be perceived as a proportionate tool of coercion rather than punishment. These were also intended to serve as a powerful legitimizing device for all those who still doubted the fairness of the UN sanctions system.