Global justice and civilian lives under pressure as unilateral sanctions spread, UN warns

“Unilateral sanctions are being used as a tool of repression,” Jallad said, arguing that they undermine the conditions of life for entire populations whose members lack meaningful input into the political processes governing these measures.

The spread of unilateral sanctions, including measures against the International Criminal Court (ICC), is weakening international cooperation and putting institutions responsible for justice and accountability under pressure, UN Special Rapporteur Zaina Jallad warned today.

Jallad, the Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, said sanctions targeting ICC officials, judges and prosecutors, human rights defenders and organisations, and a fellow Special Rapporteur are being used to intimidate those carrying out their work, with consequences that reach across the international system.

Her warning also addressed the lasting damage suffered by people in affected countries, where sanctions are crippling economies and creating a human cost that can pass from one generation to the next, leaving communities to bear the consequences of decisions over which they have little meaningful influence.

Pressure on courts and human rights defenders

Jallad described measures against international justice officials and human rights advocates as a threat to the institutions entrusted with holding those responsible for abuses to account, saying their impact goes beyond the individuals and organisations directly targeted.

She warned that such sanctions threaten to dismantle the international justice architecture and create a chilling effect across the wider system, undermining the cooperation on which international institutions depend to carry out their responsibilities.

"Unilateral sanctions are being used as a tool of repression," Jallad said, arguing that they undermine the conditions of life for entire populations whose members lack meaningful input into the political processes governing these measures. "We must not allow sanctions to be used as a means of collective punishment or coercion of rightsholders," she said.

Economic restrictions reach beyond sanctioned countries

New forms of sanctions have created an increasingly complex system of overlapping restrictions, with their effects intensified when private actors adopt practices known as overcompliance and de-risking, restricting activities beyond what sanctions require or withdrawing from relationships to avoid perceived risks.

The resulting harm extends beyond the borders of sanctioned States and can become especially acute during humanitarian crises, making the conduct of private actors and the practical operation of humanitarian exemptions central concerns for the mandate.

Jallad's warning draws attention to the prolonged nature of this damage, describing consequences that affect economies and everyday living conditions over extended periods and can continue to shape the lives of subsequent generations.

Report puts affected communities at the centre

In her report, Jallad sets out a human rights-based approach that places the experiences, perspectives and voices of affected individuals and communities at the centre of the mandate's work.

The report identifies eight core themes to guide that work, including attacks on international institutions; access to essential systems of life; overcompliance, de-risking and the operation of humanitarian exemptions; effects on third States, migration and displacement; coercive conditionality; and the immobilisation and confiscation of assets, property and sovereign resources.

Jallad called for a principled, firm and effective response from States, warning that a failure to respond would weaken the primacy of international law and further erode the international order. "States must recommit to safeguarding the multilateral system and the principles of international law and cooperation on which it rests," she said.