Targeted Sanctions

Measures aimed at specific individuals, entities, or vessels rather than a whole country, designed to pressure decision-makers while limiting harm to the general population. Also called smart sanctions, they include asset freezes, travel bans, and sectoral or arms restrictions, imposed by the UN Security Council, the EU, the UK, and the US. The shift toward them followed criticism of broad country-wide embargoes in the 1990s. A designation names the target with identifiers; for vessels the IMO number anchors the listing.