Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

We should get smart about how we use sanctions

Evening Standard

Governments rarely want to be seen to be doing nothing in the face of a humanitarian challenge. This is the dilemma presented by the terrible pictures out of Homs – but such challenges evidently go far beyond Syria. Because going to war is rarely an option, this has led to an increasing reliance on the use of economic sanctions. Given London’s leading role as a world financial centre, when taken by the UK such measures can have a strong effect.

Yet how and when should we use such sanctions? Can we make greater use of them? In particular, there is a growing case for better use of “smart” sanctions – the subject of an important call today from my colleague Dominic Raab MP.

The UK’s current use of sanctions can be divided into three broad categories. First, economic sanctions used as an instrument of policy, helping us to achieve our overseas objectives. For instance, the UK has joined with other European countries and the US in prohibiting exports to Iran that might assist its nuclear programme.