Proposed US Sanctions on Ethiopia Contravene International Law

BY SOLOMON DIBABA

The unilateral sanctions that have been imposed on Ethiopia regarding the AGOA and the HR6600 and the S3199 that are drafted to punish Ethiopia based on unverified reports that have not been investigated—is a gross miscarriage of justice and customary international law.

These sanctions are not only politically motivated but a vivid mockery on democracy and human rights. Both sets of sanctions are drafted under the guise of promoting democracy, peace and development but in practice it is geared towards killing a nascent democratic system that is gradually taking roots in the country.

The main point, however is, to learn the major justifications, if any, of imposing sanctions on the country at this point in time. Some of the justifications are apparently connected to issues of violations of human rights that have not been correctly verified by competent international bodies that could warrant sanction. The whole point boils down to the clear fact that the US is trying to shift the whole blame on Ethiopia as a strategy to save terrorist TPLF from any level of legal accountability for all the crimes the terrorist had committed on women, children, the elderly and the youth in Amhara and Afar regions. The common graveyards in Chenna, Maikadra and in districts in Afar speak for themselves. That is why the sanctions are drafted against the backdrop of US political motives and do not as such safeguard human rights, democracy and good governance in the country.

Indeed, it is a slap on the face of the sovereign peoples of Ethiopia in violation of the UN Charter which forbids interference into the internal affairs of member countries. Moreover, sanctions show the extent to which the US has taken sides on issues that are not in its own jurisdictions.

The first question that comes to mind: is the US legally competent to impose any type of sanctions on countries like Ethiopia?

According to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, only the UN Security Council has a mandate by the international community to apply sanctions (Article 41) that must be complied with by all UN member states (Article 2,2). They serve as the international community's most powerful peaceful means to prevent threats to international peace and security or to settle them. Sanctions do not include the use of military force.

Before dealing with this question it would help to look at the list of countries that are under US embargo in 2021 and 2022. These countries include Afghanistan, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Crimea and Eritrea, North Korea, Russia, Iran and Syria. This list is expected to grow as the US is working on several other options for further sanctions.

Sanctions play an important role in dictating US interests on countries that the US State Department lists as unfriendly. If the above mentioned sanctions are passed on Ethiopia by the US Congress and Senate, their resultant effect on the comprehensive relations between the people of Ethiopia and the US will have enormous consequences and implications.

Politically, the sanctions severely affect the normal diplomatic relations of the country with the US by restricting diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and the US. This will have a much stronger bearing on further restrictions and prohibitions on immigration between the peoples of both countries.

The economic embargo set on the draft sanctions will seriously hamper financial transactions and flow of remittance from the US to families in Ethiopia who are in most cases dependant on flow of remittances from their kith and kin in the US. Moreover, investments and projects with joint ventures will be closed robbing the country of its foreign currency needs. This will result in slowing down of both humanitarian support and economic relations, leading to  the freezing of century old diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Some western writers argue that the sanctions do not indicate interference into the internal affairs of Ethiopia but totally ignore the fact that obstructing the country from conducting smooth international trade is even far more severe than mere interference into the internal affairs of the country. In reality,  economic sanctions imposed on countries such as Ethiopia by countries like the US are "illegal" in the sense that they deny a country like Ethiopia of the right to self-development and the right to self-defense in the instances of military sanctions.

If approved, these sanctions will decapitate Ethiopia’s ability to repay its debts and disqualify it from being legible to more favorable international loans that will help to buttress the country’s economic development.

The US unilateral sanctions are illegal and succumb to violation of human rights instead of promoting stability. Instead of promoting democracy and good governance, the unilateral sanctions under consideration execrate hunger, malnutrition and total poverty on the people of Ethiopia who are trying to be self-sufficient in food and in other poverty reduction schemes. The draft sanctions include a whole lot of sanction packages which include among other things, diplomatic sanctions, sanctions on security and military cooperation and sanctions on aid packages. The US projects in Ethiopia will totally diminish, affecting the beneficiaries at the grassroots in the short and long run.

Sanctions are harmful to investments in both US and Ethiopia as they shatter bilateral economic relations. Such sanctions will in the short run drastically plunge additional millions of Ethiopians into below internationally recognized poverty level.

Currently, Ethiopia is responding to food and nonfood delivery to Tigray but terrorist. TPLF is engaged in a new wave of war on the Afar region which is the main pipeline to the delivery route. Even if the US is clearly aware of TPLF’s intransigence, deploying its forces to Afar and Amhara districts, the US has not condemned this act or put pressure on the brutal group.

The economic sanctions will seriously jeopardize cooperation even in the humanitarian areas and cooperation in the areas of health, environmental protection, in human trafficking and illicit trade, forcing Ethiopia to tackle these entire challenges single handedly.

As stated above, instead of promoting human rights, the sanctions, if approved will enhance violations of human rights to which the US will also be accountable.

US attempt to weaken Ethiopia through a barrage of sanctions will affect Ethiopia’s strength to fight terrorism in the Horn of Africa as security cooperation between the two countries will be stalled paving the way for mushrooming of terrorist organizations in the region, a serious disservice to the US national interest in Africa.