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The Un Sanctions Committee 's Guidelines Prescribe Too Loose Standards Of Evidence For Their Monitoring Groups

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Some would say that the UN Sanctions Committee’s guidelines prescribe very loose standards of evidence for their Monitoring Groups. This is often followed with the claim that inconsistent standards of investigations and evidentiary standards can lead to poor harmonization and unfair sanctioning, which can even go so far as discrediting of the Sanctions Committees of the Security Council. While these claims may be true to some extent, the argument can be made that by comparing reports, Experts have already formed a degree of consensus in their evidentiary standards and due processes of investigations. The purpose of exemplifying the high burden of proof across the Panels of Experts without a common guidelines is to demonstrate that due …show more content…

Looking at this policy, it is clear that it would be impossible under the current framework to provide this type of due process for all individuals and entities sanctioned by the UN. Furthermore, the Security Council would most likely not provide the resources necessary to pursue this process. Therefore, to the standard of due process used for charging misconduct on a UN employee would not be satisfied with the due process used for investigations and impositions of UN sanctions. While this example may not be a realistic comparison, the value in its mention is intended to shed light on the double standards inherent in the due process of imposing UN sanctions (having detrimental effects), and the due process for imposing a charge of misconduct on a UN staff member (having much less of an effect than targeted sanctions). This double standard perhaps signifies a need for reform.

After viewing the evidentiary standards and investigative methods of the different Experts Panels of the Security Council Monitoring Teams/Groups – as will be done in the remainder of this essay- it will be demonstrated that almost all Panels of Expert more or less conform to the recommendations made in The Report of the Informal Working Group of the Security Council on General Issues of Sanctions (2006) already, without a mandate or common standard outlined by the Security Council. This calls

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