"World" editorial. As the war in Syria draws to a close, international sanctions continue to pile up on the country. A new punitive arsenal of the United States must thus enter into force Wednesday, June 17.
Named "Caesar law", in honor of the Syrian military photographer who exposed the crimes perpetrated on an industrial scale in the jails of Bashar Al-Assad, these so-called secondary sanctions are no longer aimed only at Syrians, but at persons or entities third parties, of all nationalities, who provide support to power. This new text aims to increase the isolation of Damascus, in the hope of leading to a transition to the rule of law.
The European Union, for its part, renewed the measures taken against Syria on May 28 in response to the bloody crackdown on anti-Assad protests. Brussels’s blacklist lists everything the Syrian regime has about killers, torturers, secret moneyers and predatory business people. Banks, companies and state bodies are also under sanctions, as are entire sectors, such as oil, under embargo.
Get out of this binary debate
For the Syrian authorities and their allies, these restrictive measures amount to "state terrorism". On the contrary, Americans and Europeans boast of a targeted system, targeting only the repressive and financing capacities of the Assad regime, with humanitarian exemptions.
We must get out of this binary debate. The unilateral lifting of all sanctions, on the grounds that the Assad regime has won the war and that it is necessary to speak again with the master of the country, would be a political mistake. Westerners have no interest in depriving themselves of their main, if not unique, lever of pressure on Damascus.
But it is time to recognize the damage that these well-intentioned devices can do to an already severely affected population. The remark applies mainly to the United States. Carried to its paroxysm, the Caesar law risks placing Syria under a potentially tragic economic blockade. It is up to humanitarian organizations to set up a mechanism for collecting and analyzing the fallout from this particularly aggressive legislation.
The EU is not immune to criticism. Its sectoral sanctions and those adopted by the United States before the Caesar law created "a chilling effect". Foreign economic actors tend to turn away from Syria, due to the additional financial cost and administrative hassles that come with managing a client who is potentially at risk.
Realistic goals
Importing computers or replacing spare parts for a medical device can now take months. Access to the international banking system requires treasures of ingenuity. The scope of humanitarian exemptions is limited to medical and food. It would benefit from being extended to the rehabilitation of electrical infrastructure, schools and hospitals.
But, above all, if the European and American sanctions are intended to be something other than a Pavlovian reflex or moral incantations, they must be accompanied by realistic objectives. Rather than demanding a political transition that is no longer plausible, Brussels and Washington should offer gradual relief from some of their measures in exchange for easily identifiable concessions, such as the release of detainees. Diplomacy, like politics, must be the art of the possible.
