OFAC (or: delivering aid to Syria)
In this blog article we review the impact of sanctions on the effective delivery of humanitarian aid with particular emphasis on Syria. In our Syria project, we deliver high impact medical goods to over 140 hospitals in Northwest Syria. In doing so, we have experienced significant challenges created by the consequences, even though unintended, of sanction regimes.
Imagine importing something to North Korea. Unimaginable? Right.
Syria and North Korea are among the countries imposed with the most severe sanctions by the US government. When we started our emergency response for Syria, we were lulled in by the promise that the blanket general license given out by the US Treasury would allow us to work with NGOs and private businesses to send medical assistance to treat earthquake survivors and the Syrian population at large. However, this was not really the case. Welcome to our journey of navigating sanctions and their consequences to send urgently needed medical goods to Syria.
Now, let’s row back: what are sanctions, and why are they imposed on Syria? By imposing sanctions, one country seeks to alter the strategic decisions of another; over the last decades, they have become an essential tool in foreign policy. For example, sanctions have been imposed to dissuade North Korea’s nuclear program or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions are generally regarded to provide a lower risk and lower cost (for the sanctioning country) action than military intervention. However, sanctions are also broad tools: when whole nations are cut off from global financial streams, subject to travel bans, and become impossible business partners due to trade restrictions, it is not only (or rarely) the despots suffering; it is to a large extent the people.
Syria, in particular, has been subject to US-issued sanctions since it was designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979. During the Iraq war (2009) and at the outbreak of the civil war (2011), sanctions were expanded. Most recently, the Caesar sanctions were added to the punitive mix, issued by the US congress after an anonymous photographer (code name Caesar) had smuggled out and published documentation of torture in Assad’s prisons.
Sanctions and humanitarian action. Sanctions are generally designed to not hamper humanitarian efforts, often by allowing certain goods to be imported into the target country. However, unintended consequences affecting the ability of humanitarian actors to act swiftly in response to crises occur. According to the International Peace Institute, a think tank, humanitarian organizations have been put on sanctions lists, banks have refused to cooperate with humanitarian actors, importing essential goods is restricted, impeding the ability of humanitarian actors to deliver effective aid, and finally, there is a risk for humanitarian actors to be fined or prosecuted, even as they act in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. Navigating the procedures around sanctions exemptions also takes up resources that could be put to use more usefully.
Finally, and this is something we noticed through our work, cooperating with (and finding) partners to deliver aid to a sanctioned country becomes challenging.
What all this means for the delivery’s effectiveness and speed? In our projects, we work with international partners. To date, we have delivered medical goods to Ukraine, Sierra Leone, and Lebanon, and it always went relatively smoothly. When our Syria project took off, and we knew there was a 180-day sanctions exemption for transactions facilitating relief efforts in Syria, we were optimistic that our high-impact medical goods would arrive in no time. However, what we hadn’t factored in was the risk-averseness of our partners. Violating sanctions has consequences. The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) treats sanctions breaches as a threat to national security and foreign policy. It punishes harshly: prison time of up to 30 years and fines ranging between a few thousand and several million dollars are on the table. However, one may not even need to think this far. Imagine the impact on a bank’s ability to do business if it is excluded from the dollar system due to violating US sanctions. That’s pretty grave.
So, while our partners on this project were enthused by the idea of bringing severely needed aid to Syria, they also were rightly weary of the consequences they may face. The problem is the following: even as the sanctions exemption was given, there are a lot of gray zones to be navigated. So, rather than delving into a Syria project head-on, we had to put a lot of effort into ensuring that what we did was 100% legal. In the end, we had money frozen (we had foolishly put the term “Syria” in the reference), we had to apply for separate licenses, we signed contracts to reduce our partner’s chances of receiving repercussions, and, needless to say, our partners and we spent hours in online meetings.
So, what’s our conclusion? Shipping to Syria was in no way easy. We now understand why so few organizations supported Syria in the earthquake’s aftermath. While we understand the constraints, we are appalled by the lack of support for the Syrian people. Even more so, we are grateful to our partners on this project (Kühne + Nagel, Project CURE, and HiHFAD) for their commitment to partnering with us on this quite complex, resource-draining, and - frankly - risky project. We are confident that we are all in this because we know that the impact we are creating through our cooperation will be immense once we have sorted out the bureaucracy. Our coalition of partners will deliver high-quality medical equipment and consumables into a region ravaged by war for over twelve years and deprived of humanitarian assistance by the Assad government. This is what we are in for. Every cent frozen, every signature needed, and every hour in calls is absolutely worth the pain of navigating these hurdles that are in the way of humanitarian action.
We have drawn on The Guardian, The Intercept, The Council of Foreign Relations, The International Peace Institute, and Dow Jones to write this blog entry.
