APPENDIX 3: CALL FOR EVIDENCE
The Economic Affairs Committee has decided to conduct
an inquiry into 'The Impact of Economic Sanctions'.
Evidence is invited by 30 September 2006. The Committee
will welcome written submissions on any or all of the issues set
out below.
Economic sanctions are a traditional tool of foreign
policy, typically applied in circumstances in which political
pressure or military action are judged as likely to be ineffective
or inappropriate as means of achieving specified objectives. Economic
sanctions can take the form of unilateral or multilateral sanctions,
with or without United Nations agreement, and they can be applied
in a general or a targeted manner, against trade flows, specific
commodities or financial transactions. In recent years in particular,
sanctions have focussed on measures designed to target particular
individuals or groups, via restrictions on specific sets of transactions
and the freezing of foreign assets.
Economic sanctions are currently applied by the UK
against a number of individuals and organisations and recent political
debate in Europe and the United States has highlighted the possibility
that there may be calls for sanctions against other countries
or groups. Against this background, the Economic Affairs Committee
has decided to undertake an inquiry into the nature and impact
of economic sanctions.
The Committee will inquire into the impact of previously
applied sanctions and the extent to which they can be regarded
as having achieved their stated purpose. In this context, the
Committee intends to gather evidence about the impact and effectiveness
of both general and targeted sanctions, including financial sanctions
as well as trade and specific commodity sanctions. The Committee
also intends to examine current Government policy towards sanctions,
with a view to determining whether it is coherent and soundly
based on available evidence. The inquiry will seek answers to
questions of the following kind.
1. What is the purpose of economic sanctions? Are
they usually intended to effect regime change, policy changes
by an existing regime, or to neutralise the threat posed by an
existing regime, group or individual? Have the objectives of economic
sanctions in the past been clearly stated?
2. What does the evidence suggest about the impact
of previously applied trade sanctions? How did they affect the
sanctioned economy? Did they mainly impact on the poorer or the
richer groups? How did they affect the country or countries imposing
the sanctions?
3. Is there any role for general economic sanctions
in today's environment, or should sanctions normally be imposed
in a targeted manner, against specific individuals or groups?
4. How effective are financial sanctions? Should
they be used on their own or do they need to be used in conjunction
with other measures?
5. What are the problems connected with the use of
targeted economic and financial sanctions? Is there any evidence
to suggest that they generate adverse consequences for individuals
or businesses that were not intended to be targets? How important
are such problems?
6. Does the evidence point to circumstances in which
sanctions are most likely to be effective? What does the evidence
suggest about the impact of unilateral sanctions?
7. Is there any evidence to suggest that targeted
sanctions help to minimise any adverse humanitarian impact on
the civil population?
8. In so far as sanctions affect the civilian population
rather than the regime, does this typically put pressure on the
regime to change or does it tend to increase support for the regime?
9. Is there any evidence to suggest that economic
or financial sanctions have been successful in achieving their
stated objective? If they don't achieve their objective, what
should be the next step? Is this something which is normally considered
when sanctions are formulated?
10. Does the British Government have a coherent policy
with respect to economic and financial sanctions? Does it engage
in a thorough analysis of the issues, including the likely economic
impact, before deciding whether to promote or support sanctions
in any particular case? What are the procedures used to review
or revise current policy?
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