Hilhorst, Thea

Mena Fluhmann, Rodrigo

English

The sanctions package against Russia is expanding every day as the main strategy to end the invasion of Ukraine. While it is inevitable that ordinary Russians will suffer from these sanctions (as will people in the countries applying these sanctions), we must do everything in our ability to protect all civilians affected by this war, including people in Russia, from the impact of sanctions. This is not an easy task at all. On one hand, the sanctions might bring suffering to people in Russia (primarily for the most vulnerable ones), but on the other hand, they might lead to the end of the war, and, thereby, save many lives and reduce the extreme suffering of millions in Ukraine

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Humanitarian implications ofsanctions to end the war in Ukraine B y  D o r o t h e a  H i l h o r s t  a n d  R o d r i g o  M e n a  ( )  M a r c h  7 ,  2 0 2 2  ( h t t p s : / / i s s b l o g . n l / 2 0 2 2 / 0 3 / 0 7 / w h a t - w e -d o n t - t a l k - a b o u t - w h e n - w e - t a l k - a b o u t - u s i n g - s a n c t i o n s - t o -e n d - t h e - w a r - i n - u k r a i n e / )The sanctions package against Russia is expanding every day asthe main strategy to end the invasion of Ukraine. While it isinevitable that ordinary Russians will suffer from these sanctions(as will people in the countries applying these sanctions), wemust do everything in our ability to protect all civilians affected bythis war, including people in Russia, from the impact of sanctions.This is not an easy task at all. On one hand, the sanctions mightbring suffering to people in Russia (primarily for the mostvulnerable ones), but on the other hand, they might lead to theend of the war, and, thereby, save many lives and reduce theextreme suffering of millions in Ukraine.(https: //issblog.nl/)The great dilemma: using sanctions as a tool to end warThis great dilemma of how to stop the war while avoiding moresuffering should not be taken lightly, and its impacts carefullyassessed. On Tuesday evening, we listened to a conversationwith two well-known military experts on the Dutch radio: Rob deWijk and Arend Jan Boekestijn. After a while the conversationturned to the effects of the sanctions. Rob de Wijk stated, ‘‘Wewill smoke out the ’regime’.” He found it likely that the ruble wouldcompletely collapse, and hence destroy the Russian economy.Boekestijn went one step further. He praised that the Russians, asa result of the imposed sanctions, can no longer withdraw moneyfrom ATM machines. He continued, “when people get hungry, theywill go out on the ’street’.” While the sanction seek to affect thosein power, oligarchs, and the government itself, either of these twomen did not seemed concerned about what their predictionswould mean for the majority of people in Russia. On the contrary,they were impressed and fascinated by the sanctions, and almostjubilant about their possible effects.The assumption, however, that hungry people will take to thestreets to overthrow Putin is debatable. It ignores the fact thatmany Russians have already taken to the streets. In the earlydays of the war, an estimated 5,000 Russian civilians were(https: //issblog.nl/)arrested during widespread protests against the war. The effectsof large-scale protests are also uncertain. Until now, we havenever seen Putin care much about protests or act based on whatpeople think.The unsettling costs of sanctions: hurting the innocent andthe most vulnerableProvoking hunger is, unfortunately, a common weapon of war.Forcing the enemy to surrender through a siege that cuts off anarea from food is a recurring theme in history. The creation mythof Carcassonne in France, in which Mrs. Carcass managed todeceive besiegers by throwing a well-fed pig over the city wall isjust one of many examples. Emperor Charles V who besieged thecastle did not realise it was the only pig left over in thedesperately hungry city, and withdrew his troops when heconcluded their siege was not successful. In the previous century,hunger has been used as a weapon of war in many conflicts — inChina, Ethiopia, Biafra, Sudan, and so on. The Dutch hungerwinter in the Second World War should not be missing from thelong list as well, and nor should the so-called holodomor, in whichRussia caused a dramatic famine in Ukraine in the 1930s,resulting in the death of more than 3 million people because ofstarvation.Hunger often kills more civilians during wars than armed violence,and the long term effects of malnutrition are incalculable. TheWorld Peace Foundation has listed 61 famines as part of conflictsthat took place between 1870 and 2015. A conservative estimateof the number of victims came to 105 million deaths. To endhunger as a weapon of war, an international resolution waspassed in 2018 condemning this. The resolution 2417 was aninitiative of the Netherlands, and thanks to a great deal ofdiplomatic effort, it was adopted with unanimous support by theSecurity Council of the United Nations.Making sanctions work without impacting civilians — is itpossible? Sanctions are meant to end the invasion. Russia istargeting civilians with the bombing and seems to be rapidlyaccumulating war crimes. In the last 8 years, while war wasongoing in the separatist regions of Ukraine, humanitarian needswere immense. There were at least 850.000 people internallydisplaced, along with an acute need for socio-economic and(https: //issblog.nl/)psycho-social care. Aid providers shared with us about thedifficulties they faced in the areas controlled by the Russian-backed separatists, ranging from concerns for the safety of aidproviders to administrative hindrances (withholding permissions)in providing access. It will, therefore, be important to continuenegotiating access to Ukraine, and enabling people to move freelyin search for refuge, and most importantly seek an end to theinvasion.There is great optimism that the international solidarity and widelyshared support for sanctions may facilitate the end of the war. It isinevitable that ordinary Russian civilians will bear some of theburden of the imposed sanctions. But we cannot let this becomethe goal. Instead, let us think about how to organise sanctions sothat citizens are spared as much as possible, because the mostvulnerable are, in every side of the conflict, the ones that usuallypay the greatest costs.Opinions expressed in Bliss posts reflect solely the views of theauthor of the post in question.About the authors:(https://i0.wp.com/issblog.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Foto-kleiner-formaat.jpg?ssl=1)Dorothea Hilhorst (https://www.eur.nl/en/people/thea-hilhorst) isprofessor of Humanitarian Studies at the International Institute ofSocial Studies of Erasmus University.(https: //issblog.nl/)What do you think?Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked*(https://i0.wp.com/issblog.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Rodrigo-Mena.png?ssl=1)Rodrigo Mena (https://www.eur.nl/en/people/rodrigo-mena-fluhmann) is Assistant Professor of Disasters and HumanitarianStudies at the International Institute of Social Studies of ErasmusUniversity.Are you looking for more content about Global Development andSocial Justice? Subscribe to Bliss, the official blog of theInternational Institute of Social Studies, and stay updated aboutinteresting topics our researchers are working on.Your comment*Name(https: //issblog.nl/) (https://www.iss.nl/en)Bliss is the official blog of the International Institute of SocialStudies (http://www.iss.nl), which is part of the ErasmusUniversity Rotterdam (http://www.eur.nl).Bliss adheres to the ISS privacy regulations. Click here(https://www.iss.nl/en/disclaimer/privacy-statement) for moreinformation. (https://www.eur.nl)Post commentNo Comments Yet.Email (will not be published)Website(https: //issblog.nl/)

What we don’t talk about when we talk about using sanctions to end the war in Ukraine

https://pure.eur.nl/files/51239678/Humanitarian_implications_of_sanctions_to_end_the_war_in_Ukraine_Bliss.pdf

What we don’t talk about when we talk about using sanctions to end the war in Ukraine

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