International Sanctions

This report was produced by Monitor Radio and originally broadcast in December of 1993. Rebroadcast of Monitor Radio is made possible by the Internet Multicasting Service and our sponsors.

Do They Work?

When one country seeks to influence the policies of another, economic sanctions rate high as the non-invasive weapon of choice. Sanctions are relatively easy to impose, they don't carry the economic cost of military intervention, and they don't risk war casualties. The United States currently observes sanctions of various kinds imposed against Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, North Korea, Syria, Vietnam, and Cuba. But the results of these efforts have been mixed, prompting questions about the effectiveness of sanctions and about possible alternatives. Monitor Radio's Jean Hacklander reports from Washington.

Haiti

For more than two years, Haiti has been under an international embargo, which was tightened late last year to include fuel. Almost everything in Haiti depends on imported gasoline and diesel, and supplies rare virtually depleted. The sanctions are meant to make life difficult for the country's ruling elite -- the military and the business community. But more and more, it's Haiti's poorest citizens who are being hurt. The Clinton administration denies that the sanctions are causing significant harm to the poor, but at least one American aid agency says that's not true, and warns of a catastrophe. Correspondent Claude Adams has this report from Haiti.

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