Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues (Print ISSN: 1544-0036; Online ISSN: 1544-0044)

Abstract

The Impact of International Economic Sanctions on the Right to Life in Iraq

Author(s): Mahmoud WM Abuwazna, Setiyono, Joko Adya Paramita Prabandari

The importance of this topic lies in the fact that international economic sanctions, as non-military sanctions, have received wide attention in contemporary international law, although they are a punitive measure in which armed forces are not used. Because of the steady increase in the Security Council's recourse to economic sanctions in its repressive policies as a punitive policy, this has raised many problems, especially the serious humanitarian effects of these sanctions on the peoples of targeted countries such as Iraq, and these policies indirectly affect the right to life, which It is considered one of the most important civil rights stipulated in most international human rights covenants, so we sought through this article to study the legitimacy of the international economic sanctions imposed on Iraq and to show their effects on the right to life, guaranteed under the International Bill of Human Rights, and by following the quantitative method by describing and analyzing Mortality rates during the years of the siege and comparing them to determine the negative effects of economic sanctions on the health aspect in Iraq. This study showed that the death rate increased significantly during the years of the siege and beyond, especially among children and women, due to neglect of health care, water pollution and the spread of diseases and epidemics. It has been proven that the sanctions regime imposed by the United Nations on Iraq is ineffective in promoting the establishment of a stable international order, and its failure to achieve the objectives required of it. The consequences of those sanctions were more deadly for people. The case of Iraq underscores the need for legal restrictions on the Security Council.

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