The United Nations, the European Union, and the King of Sweden: Economic Sanctions and Individual Rights in a Plural World Order

Abstract

In the last decade, economic sanctions have become a major instrumentality of the UN Security Council in the struggle against terrorism and lawless violence endangering peace. It is not surprising that innocents would be ensnarled, along with culprits, in the nets of the so-called "smart" or "targeted" sanctions, which are directed against named individuals and groups (as opposed to delinquent States). In such rare cases, as the individual concerned searches for a legal remedy, significant issues of fundamental human rights may arise at the levels of the international, regional, and national legal orders. This essay explores these issues. After examining broader questions surrounding international legal constraints that operate on UN authority, this article turns to a discussion of the UN's sanctions regime and the issues raised in recent litigation in the European Courts surrounding implementation of that regime in the European Union and its Member States.