Assistance to third states affected by UN sanctions considered.

A set of possible guidelines on technical procedures for providing better information and early assessments for the Security Council and its organs about the actual or potential effects of sanctions on third States invoking Article 50 of the United Nations Charter was proposed by the Secretary-General on 30 August (A/51/317).

The guidelines provided that:

* the sanctions committees should expeditiously consider applications for such assistance and make appropriate recommendations;

* affected Member States should be invited to meetings of the Security Council and its subsidiary bodies;

* the sanctions committees' secretariat would serve as a focal point to "coordinate and streamline impact assessment and analysis" with other parts of the Secretariat, relevant programmes and agencies of the United Nations system and international financial institutions;

* standard procedures and a uniform methodology should be followed in determining and evaluating losses incurred by third States as a result of the imposition of sanctions;

* fact-finding missions for impact assessment should be dispatched in the cases of the most severely affected countries

* impact assessment statements or reports should be updated on a regular basis, particularly in connection with the periodic reviews of the sanctions regime; and

* possible practical ways of assisting the affected Member States should be identified.

Since there was no uniform method for identifying and assessing the special economic problems of non-target States affected by mandatory sanctions, the report suggested the development of a common methodology that could be used by the affected States in preparing the explanatory material for their requests for assistance. Also, since the scope and third-party effects of sanctions differed from case to case, a resolution-specific framework - based on general methodological principles to be developed in each case for assessing its particular impact on an affected country over a certain period of time - was recommended.

Within the UN Secretariat, the Department of Political Affairs, in collaboration with the Department for Economic and Social Information and Political Analysis (DESIPA), would be responsible for "collating, assessing and analysing information" on the effects of sanctions on third States. It would also be responsible for providing advice and options, so that appropriate adjustments could be made, he added. DESIPA, in consultation with the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, would collate and coordinate information about international assistance available to third States, the report said .

In addition, the Administrative Committee on Coordination, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, should continue to be the channel for coordination of information on economic and other assistance to third States invoking Article 50.

Various views

Francis Mahon Hayes of Ireland - speaking on behalf of the European Union, as well as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland - told the General Assembly's Sixth (Legal) Committee on 26 September that the effectiveness of sanctions regimes as the "primary enforcement measure" available under the Charter must be preserved.

Prakash Shah of India believed that a permanent mechanism with adequate financial resources should be established to address the problems confronting affected States. Pascaline Boum of Cameroon, who among many others shared that view, said that the "cost of sanctions should be shared by all Member States".

Syargei Syargeeu of Belarus declared that the problem of providing assistance must be addressed "without weakening the sanctions system itself"; and Ilya Rogachev of the Russian Federation stressed the need for a uniform methodology to identify and assess the special economic problems of the affected countries.

Victor Rodriguez Cedeno of Venezuela said that, while the Security Council had a responsibility to address the effects of sanctions on third States, other United Nations bodies should also participate in the mechanisms designed to mitigate those problems. Antonio de Aguiar Patriota of Brazil suggested that a "permanent monitor on such effects of sanctions" might also be established.