The Role of Security Council Sanctions to Enforce International Law through Tackling Threats to International Peace

Volume 2 , Issue 1 , June 2025 , Pages 524-542

Authors

L.Dr. Dawan Mohammed Jaza Mohammed 1

1 Law Department, College of Law, University of Sulaimani

DOI logo 10.17656/11913

Keywords

Abstract

The Security Council has included in its primary competence of maintaining international peace and security the task of implementing the rules of international law to protect human rights and maintain peace and security by addressing threats to international peace, and has relied on the powers granted to it under the United Nations Charter and on international and humanitarian principles. To ensure respect for and implementation of these rules, the Security Council has issued resolutions involving the imposition of economic sanctions and the use of armed force on the one hand, and the activation of international criminal sanctions on the other hand. International law and the rule of law are the foundations of the international system. Clear and foreseeable rules and a system to prevent or sanction violations of these rules are essential preconditions for lasting peace, security, economic development and social progress. The United Nations is undertaking many efforts to strengthen the rule of law in supporting the special role of the Security Council in this regard. It is the most powerful multilateral institution that has grown well beyond its initial important legal functions. Traditionally, this included determining those acts that threat to the international peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression had occurred and prescribing specific legal binding obligations on member states under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Nowadays and concretely after the end of Cold War, it is quite visible that the activity of the Security Council is showing a variation to the traditional conception of the international system.  The reactivation of the Security Council has resulted in increasing use of its powers under Chapter VII of the Charter and the adoption of measures against a number of state and non-state entities. The notion of a threat to the peace has now come to encompass violations of fundamental norms of international law such as human rights and humanitarian law. Therefore, Security Council embraces establishing complex regimes to enforce its decisions and passing resolutions in order to enforce rules of international law. This research will examine whether Security Council sanctions are only imposed to tackle any threats to international peace or they may achieve goals without having a direct relation with restoring international peace and security. Then, it will explain that UN Security Council sanctions are not free from international law limitations.

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  • First online1 June 2025
  • Published at1 June 2025

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