Who do sanctions apply to?
Australia implements United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions regimes and Australian autonomous sanctions regimes (collectively known as Sanctions). All Australian sanctions are administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The sanctions regimes currently implemented under Australian sanctions laws are show in the diagram below. (image sourced from the DFAT website).
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions regimes
- Imposed by the UNSC in response to a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression. (Charter of the United Nations, Article 39)
- Implemented by all United Nations Member States, including Australia, as a matter of international law. (Charter of the United Nations, Article 25)
- Primarily implemented under the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 and its regulations.
- There is a separate set of regulations for each UNSC sanctions regime.
Autonomous sanctions regimes
- Imposed and implemented by a country as a matter of foreign policy.
- May supplement UNSC sanctions, or be separate from them.
- Can be imposed in a range of situations of international concern which don’t meet the objective standard of a ‘threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression’, or where there is insufficient support in the UNSC to act.
- Primarily implemented under the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 and the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011.
- There is only one set of regulations which implements all Australian autonomous sanctions regimes.
The Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 consolidated the implementation of Australian autonomous sanctions under one act administered by DFAT.