Global Human Rights Sanctions: How Can They Contribute to Addressing Mass Atrocities?

Global Human Rights Sanctions (GHRS) have been used in over 30 countries as a mechanism for imposing unilateral human rights sanctions on individual perpetrators. Despite the hundreds of specific sanctions that have been imposed globally, there remains a lack of understanding about how these measures function on gross human rights violations. This article seeks to explore how GHRS, as an emerging human rights mechanism, contributes to addressing mass atrocities. I categorize the functions of GHRS into two phases: post-atrocity and pre-atrocity. In the post-atrocity phase, I identify three primary objectives asserted by sanctioning states: punishing perpetrators, promoting behavioral change, and providing compensation to victims. In the pre-atrocity phase, I introduce the Swiss Cheese Model to illustrate the deterrent effect of GHRS, emphasizing their unique role in preventing and addressing mass atrocities compared to other human rights mechanisms.