Legal boundaries to UN sanctions (original) (raw)

The Security Council is empowered under Article 41 of the UN Charter to enforce the peace by imposing non-military measures, including comprehensive economic sanctions. As UN sanctions have shown to cause massive harm to civilian populations, the question has arisen whether the Security Council is bound by any legal norms in designing and imposing economic coercion on populations and if so, what are these norms[2]. Our conclusion is that when imposing Article 41 measures, the Security Council is bound by the UN Charter, by general principles of international law and by human rights norms.