Legal priority between humanitarian assistance and international sanctions for reasons of governance

Abstract

Some countries and international organizations impose international sanctions on both Syria and Afghanistan with the aim of pressuring the two governments to change their behavior and prevent further violations of civilians. At the same time, these two countries face severe humanitarian crises as a result of the non-international armed conflict taking place in them,these sanctions imposed on Syria and Afghanistan led to a major humanitarian crisis due to the shortage of basic commodities such as food, medicine, and fuel, They also limited the freedom of work of humanitarian organizations in these two countries, which necessitated the provision of humanitarian aid to their citizens. Thus, legal controversy arose about the priority between international sanctions and humanitarian aid, which Humanitarian aid must be provided and its unhindered access to all those in need must be guaranteed, This study came to show the legal priority between humanitarian aid and international sanctions for reasons related to the regime, by following the inductive and applied approach, It showed us that although humanitarian exceptions were made to the sanctions system to allow aid to enter Syria and Afghanistan, it was not at the level required to reduce the suffering of the population, The priority given to humanitarian aid over international sanctions is achieved if international sanctions are applied in accordance with the rules of international law. We have also reached several recommendations in order to give priority to humanitarian aid by moving away from imposing comprehensive international sanctions and moving towards imposing smart sanctions that target individuals and entities to avoid the negative impact on civilians, sanctions must also be reviewed continuously to evaluate their impact on civilians and their effectiveness in achieving their goals, and funding for humanitarian aid must be increased to meet the growing needs in Syria and Afghanistan, in addition to establishing humanitarian exceptions to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches civilians and reduce their suffering.