Economic Sanctions Policy, Medical Neutrality and the Human Right to Health

Abstract

Economic sanctions are a key tool of foreign policy, which former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has described as a “necessary middle ground between war and words”. Economic sanctions are, however, often criticized for their humanitarian impact and their potential collateral damage to health and healthcare, which can potentially go far beyond the target country: If sanctions disrupt global supply chains of alimentary, pharmaceutical and medical products, they can potentially entail collateral damage not only in the target country, but also in third countries, particularly those with strained and less resilient healthcare systems. In this chapter, I will analyse the implications of the human right to health and the principle of medical neutrality for the use of economic sanctions and will present possible solutions to mitigate the unintended humanitarian impact of economic sanctions.