A/HRC/45/7 United States applies non-selective sanctions in the financial, energy, defence, railway, metals and mining sectors of the Russian Federation13 “to impose costs … for its aggression in Ukraine”.14 Sectoral sanctions are also imposed by the United States in the gold, 15 oil and financial sectors of the Venezuelan economy. 16 The same approach has been taken by the European Union in relation to the Russian energy, defence, financial and dual-use goods sectors in general. Moreover, the European Union has introduced an import ban on goods from and a ban on tourism services in Crimea and Sevastopol. 17 33. The Special Rapporteur views this tendency as being rather ominous. The situation reportedly develops in such a way as to lead to consequences, in respect of “sectoral” sanctions, that are analogous to the consequences of comprehensive economic sanctions. The latter, however, as stated by the Secretary-General in 2000, have proved to be ineffective or inefficient while demonstrating a high potential for corruption 18 and reportedly preventing Governments from exercising the responsibility to protect. 34. The Special Rapporteur underscores that the expansion of unilateral sanctions entails the expansion of direct and indirect targets of sanctions. She is increasingly concerned about indirectly targeted targets. Current developments clearly demonstrate that refugees and migrants must leave States in search of safe haven as soon as unilateral economic sanctions start to be applied against those States. In particular, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has repeatedly reported on the return of more than 1 million Afghans from the Islamic Republic of Iran since 2018 because of the worsening economic situation in the country, 19 with nearly 300,000 of them returning to Afghanistan during January–May 2020.20 United States sanctions are repeatedly cited as the main reason for the deteriorating economic situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the return of Afghans.21 35. The Special Rapporteur also notes the increasing impact of sanctions on the populations of sanctioning States due to the introduction of prohibitions and punishments of their own nationals aimed at the implementation of sanctions. In particular, any transactions, including online transactions, made by United States persons or made in or involving the United States relating to the property or interests in property of sanctioned individuals are prohibited unless authorized or exempted.22 Another concern has been the application of sanctions against international civil servants for exercising their duties, including in the administration of criminal justice, as has been done by the United States in respect of officials of the International Criminal Court.23 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 6 Kimberly Strosnider and David Addis, “New sanctions targeting Russian financial and energy sectors”, Global Policy Watch, 18 July 2014. See also United States, Executive Order 13663. United States, Executive Order 13662. United States, Executive Order 13850. United States, Office of Foreign Assets Control, “Venezuela Sanctions Regulations 31 C.F.R. Part 591: General License No. 36A Authorizing Certain Activities Necessary to the Wind Down of Transactions Involving Rosneft Trading S.A. or TNK Trading International S.A.” See www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/sanctions/ukraine-crisis. See www.un.org/press/en/2000/20001115.sgsm7625.doc.html. Frud Bezhan, “Afghanistan, the ‘unintended casualty’ of U.S. sanctions on Iran“, RadioFreeEuropeRadioLiberty, 14 August 2018; IOM, “Return of undocumented Afghans: weekly situation report“, 29 December 2019–4 January 2020; IOM, “Return of undocumented Afghans: weekly situation report“ 3–9 May 2020. IOM, “Return of undocumented Afghans: weekly situation report”, 17–23 May 2020. Stefanie Glinski, “US-Iran tensions fuel Afghan returns“, The New Humanitarian, 6 February 2020; Nabila Ashrafi, “Numbers spike of Afghan migrants returning from Iran: IOM”, ToloNews, 24 November 2019. United States, Cyber-Related Sanctions Program. See www.treasury.gov/resourcecenter/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cyber.pdf. See www.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-at-a-press-availability-with-secretary-of-defensemark-esper-attorney-general-william-barr-and-national-security-advisor-robert-obrien/; www.icccpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1527; International Criminal Court Appeals Chamber, “Judgment on the appeal against the decision on the authorization of an investigation into the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”, No. ICC-02/17 OA4, 5 March 2020.