Launch Clingendael Sanctions Network

On January 16th and 17th, the Clingendael Institute organised the inaugural conference of the Clingendael Sanctions Network in cooporation with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Policymakers, think tankers, academics, NGO experts, and other practitioners explored the main challenges faced by Dutch and European sanctions policy. 

In recent years, sanctions have rapidly increased in importance as policy instrument to punish violators of international law. At the same time, the growing impact of sanctions raise a whole series of important questions. The main goal of the event was to facilitate knowledge exchange between policymakers and experts working on sanctions and work collaboratively towards new solutions for important problems in this sphere. 

On Thursday, Eeuwke Faber, Director of the Sanctions Policy Unit of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officially launched the Clingendael Sanctions Network, a platform dedicated to research, and collaboration on sanctions policy. It was followed by a panel on key trends and challenges in sanctions policy. On Friday, Robin Niblett, from Chatham House and Alexandra Prokopenko from Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center served as keynote speakers. The rest of the day included panels on implementation and enforcement, the impact of Western sanctions on target countries with experts on North Korea, Russia, Sudan, and Latin America, and on the humanitarian and ethical aspects of sanctions.

Following this successful launch event, the Clingendael Sanctions Network will seek to further develop its capacities to connect policymakers and experts in the field of sanctions policy in the Netherlands and throughout Europe, while the network's core group of experts will begin its work of analysing key policy challenges faced by the Sanctions Policy Unit of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Please stay tuned for our future events and research output.