Opinion ID: 3039142
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Iraqi Sanctions

Text: To place this case in context, it is necessary to review the history of the Iraqi sanctions regime. On August 2, 1990, one day after Saddam Hussein’s armies invaded Kuwait, President George H.W. Bush issued Executive Order 12,722, which declared a national emergency and imposed sweeping prohibitions on numerous economic and social transactions with 1 In support of his claims, Sacks cites, among other documents, the following sources: UNICEF, The Situation of Children in Iraq 20 (2003), available at http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_4439.html (reviewing data on increased infant and child mortality during the sanctions regime period and concluding that “most of the children who are dying in Iraq are dying from preventable illness”); UNICEF, Iraq’s Children: A Lost Generation 3 (2001), available at http://www.scn.org/ccpi/ UnicefMay2001.html (“Mounting evidence shows that the sanctions are having a devastating humanitarian impact on Iraq.”); Marc Bossuyt, U.N. Econ. & Soc. Council, The Adverse Consequences of Economic Sanctions on the Enjoyment of Human Rights ¶¶ 63-67 (June 21, 2000), available at http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/unreports/bossuyt.htm (“[T]he sanctions upon Iraq have produced a humanitarian disaster comparable to the worst catastrophes of the past decades. . . . Owing to the lack of medical supplies, it was estimated that, by 1997, 30 per cent of hospital beds were out of use, 75 per cent of all hospital equipment did not work and 25 per cent of Iraq’s 1,305 health centres were closed.”). SACKS v. OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL 17325 Iraq. 55 Fed. Reg. 31,803 (Aug. 2, 1990). Four days later, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 661, which called on all Member States to prevent their nationals from engaging in economic and financial transactions with Iraq except for humanitarian donations of food and medical supplies. Prohibited activities included: (c) The sale or supply by their nationals or from their territories or using their flag vessels of any commodities or products, including weapons or any other military equipment, whether or not originating in their territories but not including supplies intended strictly for medical purposes, and, in humanitarian circumstances, foodstuffs, to any person or body in Iraq or Kuwait . . . and any activities by their nationals or in their territories which promote or are calculated to promote such sale or supply of such commodities or products; S.C. Res. 661, ¶ 3, U.N. Doc. S/RES/661 (Aug. 6, 1990). Following passage of this resolution, President Bush replaced the earlier Executive Order with Executive Order 12,724, a more thorough and detailed set of sanctions, which likewise included an exception for humanitarian donations of food and medicine. It prohibited, among other things: (b) The exportation to Iraq . . . , directly or indi- rectly, of any goods, technology . . . or services either (i) from the United States, or (ii) requiring the issuance of a license by a Federal agency, or any activity that promotes or is intended to promote such exportation, except donations of articles intended to relieve human suffering, such as food and supplies intended strictly for medical purposes; (d) Any transaction by a United States person relating to travel by any United States citizen or permanent resident alien to Iraq, or to activities by any 17326 SACKS v. OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL such person within Iraq, after the date of this order, other than transactions necessary to effect (i) such person’s departure from Iraq, (ii) travel and activities for the conduct of the official business of the Federal Government or the United Nations, or (iii) travel for journalistic activity by persons regularly employed in such capacity by a news-gathering organization; 55 Fed. Reg. 33,089, 33,089 (Aug. 9, 1990). For the President’s authority to impose these sanctions, Executive Order 12,724 relied upon the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. §§ 1701 et seq., and the United Nations Participation Act, 22 U.S.C. § 287c. 55 Fed. Reg. at 33,089. The Executive Order also made clear that the sanctions described therein could be modified or limited by future regulation, and authorized the Treasury Secretary to promulgate whatever regulations were necessary to carry out its proscriptions. Id. A month after its initial resolution on Iraq, the United Nations Security Council became concerned that the Iraqi government was diverting donated humanitarian food and medical supplies to its military. U.N. SCOR, 4th Sess., 2939th mtg. at 12-13, 19, 25, U.N. Doc. S/PV.2939 (Sept. 13, 1990). It therefore passed a new resolution recommending, among other steps to be taken, “that medical supplies should be exported under the strict supervision of the Government of the exporting State or by appropriate humanitarian agencies.” S.C. Res. 666, ¶ 8, U.N. Doc. S/RES/666 (Sept. 13, 1990). When the United States Congress engaged the issue that November, it authorized the President to continue the embargo and sanctions embodied in Executive Order 12,724, but also required that transactions involving “foodstuffs . . . exempted ‘in humanitarian circumstances’ ” be conducted pursuant to the later Security Council Resolution, Resolution 666. Iraq Sanctions Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-513, 104 Stat. 1979, 2048 (1990). SACKS v. OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL 17327 In January 1991, OFAC, an agency within the Department of Treasury responsible for coordinating international sanctions, published a final rule in the Federal Register establishing the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations (the Iraqi Sanctions). 56 Fed. Reg. 2112-01 (Jan. 18, 1991) (codified at 31 C.F.R. §§ 575.101 et seq.). These regulations included the two at issue here: 31 C.F.R. § 575.207, which prohibited all United States persons from conducting “any transaction relating to travel by any U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien to Iraq, or to activities . . . within Iraq,” except for journalists, United States or United Nations officials, and those assisting American citizens or permanent residents to flee Iraq (the Travel Ban); and 31 C.F.R. § 575.205, which banned the export of goods, services, and technology to Iraq but retained an exception for “donated foodstuffs in humanitarian circumstances, and donated supplies intended strictly for medical purposes, the exportation of which has been specifically licensed” (the Medicine Restrictions). OFAC also established a licensing program to enable humanitarian donations of food and medical supplies, id. §§ 575.501, 575.520, 575.521, repealed by 68 Fed. Reg. 61,362, 61,363 (Oct. 28, 2003), and a process for assessing penalties against those who violated the sanctions, id. §§ 575.701-705. The Iraqi Sanctions remained in place until, soon after the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United Nations lifted all non-weapons trade restrictions against Iraq, S.C. Res. 1483, ¶ 10, U.N. Doc. S/RES/1483 (May 22, 2003), and OFAC issued a general license permitting all Iraq-related transactions that previously had been prohibited, including unlicensed humanitarian donations, 68 Fed. Reg. 38,188, 38,189 (June 27, 2003) (codified at 31 C.F.R. § 575.533).