International economic and financial sanctions may have unintended harmful social and economic effects on the population in both the targeted country and the countries imposing sanctions. In particular, sanctions can further aggravate the situation of vulnerable civilians in the sanctioned country, whose population is often already under pressure due to the rogue behaviour of the governing regime.
For member States of the Council of Europe, it is thus of utmost importance that, when they employ economic and/or financial sanctions, these are designed in a human rights and rule-of-law compliant manner that maximises the impact on the offending regime, while shielding vulnerable populations from socio-economic harm as much as possible.
The Parliamentary Assembly should explore how sanctions could be designed in a manner which would spur wholesome reform of economic and financial systems, in order, for example, to minimise scope for corruption, tax avoidance and evasion, and boost the transition to a resilient economy fit for a carbon-neutral future and a socio-economically just society.