UNILATERAL SANCTIONS AS A CHALLENGE TO THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER

Abstract

Unilateral sanctions are often framed as an appropriate tool to re-spond to grave breaches of international law. In fact, they are often seen as the only enforcement tool that is available. Yet, there are multiple drawbacks to their use that may outweigh their benefit as an enforcement mechanism. The justness of these tools is questionable when one considers that states and in-ternational organizations are inconsistent in adopting sanctions and that, when employed, these measures can have grave repercussions on the civilian population of targeted states. While sanctions are a means to impose punish-ment on a wrongdoer, it is precisely because sanctions are punitive that they are ill-adapted to the horizontal and decentralized legal order. Rather than fo-cus on sanctions, research in psychology demonstrates that a more appropriate approach to changing behaviour should be grounded on empathy, where the other is viewed not only as human, but also as an equal.