Canada’s sanctions face a test of effectiveness and commitment
Canada’s sanctions face a test of effectiveness and commitment
Canada has a responsibility to prove its commitment to the principled use of sanctions right now by imposing them against Israel for the horrific crimes being committed against Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s impunity for egregious human rights violations is a particularly blatant current example of how powerful states that impose sanctions to end violations of international human rights, and breaches of peace and security, are politically selective and incoherent in their use. They have used sanctions such as asset freezes, arms embargoes, economic and financial restrictions to make bold statements about their human rights priorities in the world. But the inconsistencies and lack of transparency in their use, by powerful countries including Canada, undermine the legitimacy and effectiveness of this foreign policy tool.
A policy brief on Canada’s sanctions, which I co-authored and was published this month by the Balsillie School of International Affairs, calls on Global Affairs Canada and the House of Commons Committee on Foreign Affairs to make sanctions more transparent, review the human rights and gender impacts periodically, and assess the effects of sanctions on Canada’s larger strategic interests and preservation of the rules-based international order.
All of this could not be more relevant today, with the world witnessing the commission of grave international crimes by Israel, killing more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Most of those killed are women and children. The violations amount to breaches of international peace, security and human rights, the parameters that determine the eligibility of sanctions. Yet the international community looks on and fails to act.
The US and Canada have used sanctions as a tool to denounce and punish human rights violations around the world. Both countries along with others have imposed a wide range of sanctions since 2022 against a long list of Russians, following the invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions, however, have had much less of an effect than anticipated. In a polarized world where countries fail to act together, unilateral sanctions have minimal bite. Instead, Western sanctions against authoritarian regimes and economic competitors have given rise to new partnerships between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
In many cases, sanctions have had dangerous ramifications on a country’s civilian population in the absence of transparency and accountability of the states imposing them. Sanctions against Iran to stop its capacity to build nuclear weapons have pushed the country’s civilian population into growing poverty, and limited people’s access to critical health-care supplies and life-saving vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a result of sanctions against key entities such as central banks and financial institutions. Women in Iran have been severely impacted. Two in every three sanctions-related job losses affected women, pushing nearly three million female-headed households into financial precarity and nine million women in low-income households into vulnerability in accessing essential services including healthcare.
However, the targets of sanctions have almost always been safeguarded by one of the great powers in the bid to expand their hegemony over the world order. Not surprisingly, multilateral sanctions through the United Nations are relatively more effective in changing behaviour as they have wider acceptance and enforcement.
The lack of targeted sanctions against Israeli leaders at this time demonstrates a double standard, which further undermines arguments for sanctions as a tool for addressing rights violations.
In November 2018, Canada sanctioned 17 Saudi nationals in response to the torture and extrajudicial killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But its silence when other journalists have been murdered, such as the 2022 assassination of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces, paints a stark contrast.
There is a growing demand for Canada to impose an arms embargo on Israel to prevent its military technology from being used against Palestinian civilians. This includes closing the loopholes that allow the transfer of military goods to Israel through the US. These calls have been made by a number of civil society organizations including the Canadian peace research institute Project Ploughshares. The New Democratic Party’s foreign affairs critic and MP for Edmonton Strathcona Heather McPherson launched a public petition in December, calling on the Canadian government to impose an arms embargo.
Given their spotty track record and the potential for unintended consequences, there is understandable skepticism that sanctions actually curb bad behaviour. As such, periodic human rights impact assessments of sanctions are crucial. Without meaningful review, Canada risks not only pushing states away from the rules based international order but also causing unintended harm and making sanctions ineffective.
That being said, sanctions remain an important foreign policy tool. But it means being prepared to impose them against allies, not just adversaries.
Canada has a chance and, in fact, a responsibility to prove its commitment to the principled use of sanctions right now by imposing them against Israel for the horrific crimes being committed against Palestinians in Gaza.
Saad Hammadi is a human rights researcher and advocate. His X handle is @saadhammadi
This article first appeared in The Hill Times.