The Concept and Legal Nature of International Sanctions (Coursework Sample)

THE CONCEPT AND LEGAL NATURE OF INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS
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Introduction
Sometimes, in the exercise of state powers, an entity may break a rule or obligation of international law. The breach of international rules and edicts require that the offending party (a state, states, or an international organization) be punished to redress the derogation from international obligations. The mechanism of sanctions is employed whenever a breach of a rule or an act of illegality is adjudged to have been committed. Sanctions, properly defined, are those coercive measures undertaken by the international community to punish illegal acts of an international nature. If international law had no coercive force, it would become impossible to police the international community and ensure adherence to conventions, treaties, customary international law, and peremptory norms of international law (jus cogens).[Bongiovanni, Giorgio, Giovanni Sartor, and Chiara Valentini. "Philosophy of Law and International Criminal Law: Between Peace and Morality." International Criminal Law Review 14, no. 4/5 (November 2014): 767. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost.] [Arend, Anthony Clark, and Robert J. Beck. International law and the use of force: beyond the UN Charter paradigm. Routledge, 2014, p. 37.]
Legal Nature of International Sanctions
International law demarcates the boundaries within which entities enjoying international legal personality operate. The legal principle that binds state parties in international law are pronounced in Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the policy of Treaties, which recognizes that states are to treat their obligations as binding and enforceable in good faith. Whenever states violate certain edicts of the international community, the offending state must be made to take state responsibility. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990 was not merely regarded as immoral but also unlawful. The same applies to the invasion of Tanzania into Uganda in 1978 under the pretext of ousting Idi Amin. In as much as Idi Amin was considered anathema to public security and a malevolent dictator, Tanzania was nonetheless sanctioned for its unlawful act of aggression.[Florea, Dumitriţa, and Natalia Chirtoacă. "Sanctions in the International Public Law." USV Annals of Economics & Public Administration 13, no. 1 (January 2013): 272. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.] [Ibid, 271.] [Florea, Dumitriţa, and Natalia Chirtoacă. "Sanctions in the International Public Law." USV Annals of Economics & Public Administration 13, no. 1 (January 2013): 269. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.]
Customary international law recognizes traditional forms of sanctions. The process of codification of articles on state responsibility by the International Law Commission (ILC) has acknowledged that sanctions can be taken against individual breaches of the law as well as state offenses. The consequences of breach or commission of acts of illegality may involve orders to compensate for property damage or include countermeasures. Countermeasures are the most extreme form of sanctions. Countermeasures are taken by the offended party to compensate for the wrongs committed against it. In violations of GATT/WTO rules of international trade, such as the imposition of higher tariffs or through the imposition of illegal trade barriers, a state that is offended by this discrimination may take countermeasures of its own to "balance the scales of justice." Countermeasures must be commensurate to the wrong committed.[Von Glahn, Gerhard, and James Larry Taulbee. Law among nations: an introduction to public international law. Routledge, 2015.]
When rules of jus cogens are violated, or an international legal personality fails to honor a penalty imposed on it for some proven misdeed. The public international law imposes sanctions to restrict or repress certain interests, usually at the expense of the offending party. International sanctions cannot be used as a revenge measure against the offending party by other states in the comity of nations. Sanctions should only be applied when other pacific measures of redress have failed or proven ineffectual. For an entity to be subject to international sanctions, it must first qualify as an international legal personality. By international legal personality, we mean that the entity can enjoy and enforce rights and interests at the international plane.[Shelton,...