Legal Analysis And Response To The EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime

The European Union(hereinafter referred to as EU)human rights sanctions have a deep historical and legal background,and in practice have gradually developed into the main tool of the EU foreign human rights policy.The EU considers sanctioning a country or region if it believes that human rights violations exist or are involved.In the past,the EU foreign human rights policy was scattered in other documents and Western human rights discourse,and the main legal basis for external sanctions was the Treaty of Rome,the Treaty of the European Union and the Treaty of Lisbon.The unilateral human rights sanctions are suspected of interfering in the internal affairs and development of the target party in the name of human rights protection.In December 2020,the EU officially launched The EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime(hereinafter referred to as EUGHRSR),listing individuals and entities worldwide that the EU considers violating human rights,and directly sanctioning them through financial sanctions and travel bans.So far,the EU has invoked the new regime to impose human rights sanctions on individuals and entities in Russia,China,Iran,North Korea and other countries,freezing all the assets of the aforementioned targets in Europe,prohibiting their entry into or transit through the EU,and prohibiting any person or country in the EU from providing assistance.The scope of sanctions under EUGHRSR is no longer limited to a specific country,and the impact of sanctions spreads globally.Other countries and regions are facing the legal risks brought about by such global unilateral human rights sanctions against individuals and entities.Moreover,in order to achieve its own purposes other than human rights protection,the EU may abuse the new regime to make the sanctioned countries compromise with the EU in certain areas of conflict of interest,which will have a negative impact on the the target party.This article mainly discusses the international legitimacy of EUGHRSR.First,there is still debate in the international community on whether to implement unilateral human rights sanctions.The EUGHRSR lacks the legal support of clear international treaties and does not conform to the international customs recognized by the international community.Second,unilateral human rights sanctions violate the principle of protection of human rights under international law.The EU invokes new regime to restrict economic and personal freedom,which may affect the individual rights of self-determination and development of the sanctioned parties.Finally,the implementation of the EUGHRSR affects the existing international social order,and the determination of human rights violations has great discretion,which violates the fundamental purposes of the United Nations and goes beyond the fundamental principles governed by international law.In the face of such a situation,it is necessary for China to strengthen response to the EU global human rights sanctions as soon as possible,so as to avoid infringement.Initially,we should improve the domestic anti-sanction legislative system,and to protect the domestic law Provide normative basis for Chinese individuals and entities to counter foreign illegal sanctions.Besides,we must focus on giving play to the role of relevant departments,enriching judicial relief channels and strengthening foreign-related law enforcement protection,so as to realize the rights and interests of our nationals.Last but not least,it is necessary to promote the United Nations to incorporate EU global human rights sanctions into the UN framework to play a supervisory role,maintain the authority of the UN human rights protection mechanism,as a consequence of which,it may have a warning and curb effect on the tendency of Western entities to abuse unilateral human rights sanctions.