The humanitarian impacts of economic sanctions on Burundi

PREFACE
We would like to <strong>of</strong>fer several introductory observations
about the genesis <strong>of</strong> this study, which covers the period from July
1996 through April 1997, and the larger initiative <strong>of</strong> which it is
a part.
In 1995, three cooperating agencies—the Humanitarianism
and War Project at Brown University’s Thomas J. Watson Jr.
Institute, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
at the University <strong>of</strong> Notre Dame, and the Fourth Freedom Forum
<strong>of</strong> Goshen, Indiana—launched a multifaceted review <strong>of</strong> multilateral
<strong>economic</strong> <strong>sanctions</strong>. <strong>The</strong> first product <strong>of</strong> our efforts was
published in October 1997 by Rowman & Littlefield as Civilian
Pain and Political Gain: <strong>The</strong> Humanitarian Impacts <strong>of</strong> Economic Sanctions.
Based on individual case studies carried out by researchers on
four major recent <strong>sanctions</strong> episodes—South Africa, Iraq, the
former Yugoslavia, and Haiti—we proposed a methodology for
measuring the <strong>impacts</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>sanctions</strong> and some observations about
their use. 1
A second product <strong>of</strong> our collaboration is less wide-ranging. At
the request <strong>of</strong> the United Nations Department <strong>of</strong> Humanitarian
Affairs (DHA), we have been assessing the capacity <strong>of</strong> the UN
system to manage <strong>economic</strong> <strong>sanctions</strong>. In October 1997, after a
year’s work, we will provide the United Nations with a report,
Toward More Humane and Effective Sanctions Management: Enhancing
the Capacity <strong>of</strong> the United Nations System. A third product <strong>of</strong> the
<strong>sanctions</strong> research that is also envisioned for publication early in
1998 is an occasional paper in the Watson Institute and Kroc
Institute series that places the report’s recommendations in their
broader political context.
<strong>The</strong> present study, a fourth publication that grew out <strong>of</strong> our
<strong>sanctions</strong> research, was not foreseen when we began. However, in
our initial round <strong>of</strong> interviews, we were urged to do a detailed
review <strong>of</strong> <strong>economic</strong> <strong>sanctions</strong> in Burundi. Imposed in July 1996,
these measures represented the most recent in a series <strong>of</strong> efforts to
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