History The Security Council established its first sanctions regime, in response to the illegitimate seizure of power in Southern Rhodesia, in 1968. To date, the Council has established 30 sanctions regimes in total, concerning: Southern Rhodesia, South Africa, the Former Yugoslavia (2), Haiti, Angola, Liberia (3), Eritrea/Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Iran, Somalia/Eritrea, ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida, Iraq (2), DRC, Sudan, Lebanon, DPRK, Libya (2), the Taliban, Guinea-Bissau, CAR, Yemen, South Sudan and Mali. Sanctions regimes can, and have frequently been, amended or lifted as the Council continues to evaluate conflict situations. Today, there are fourteen active regimes – with the oldest concerning Somalia (established in 1992) and the newest concerning Mali. The shortest sanctions regime to date, concerning Eritrea/Ethiopia, was implemented from 17 May 2000 to 15 May 2001. Over the past five decades, sanctions regimes have changed in focus and scale. One of the most significant changes has been the shift away from use of comprehensive sanctions. Since 2004, all new sanctions regimes have been targeted, meaning that they are intended to have limited, strategic focus on certain individuals, entities, groups or undertakings. The most common sanctions measures are travel bans, asset freezes and arms embargos. Effectiveness of sanctions over the last 24 years, measured as a function of policy outcome and UN sanctions contribution to that outcome, has been widely debated. According to a recent comprehensive study (see Targeted Sanctions ed. Biersteker et. al., 2013}, UN targeted sanctions have been assessed to be effective in coercing a behavioral change in 10% of cases. They are more successful in constraining negative behavior (in 28% of cases) and in signaling support for international normative frameworks (in 27% of cases). It is important to note that sanctions do not operate, succeed or fail in a vacuum. They work best when coupled with a larger conflict management strategy. Structure The Security Council establishes sanctions committees, composed of all Council members, which are tasked with implementation of sanctions regimes. These committees are most often chaired by non-permanent members of the Council. The Council also often establishes expert groups (frequently called Panels of Experts) which support the work of committees. Most members of these groups are based in their home location, while two are based in New York and one in Nairobi. In addition to providing secretariat support to committees, the Security Council Affairs Division (SCAD is responsible for recruiting, managing and supporting these expert groups.
