Every Year, Sanctions Kill More People Than Wars
Every Year, Sanctions Kill More People Than Wars - sh.itjust.works
Between 2010 and 2021, unilateral sanctions caused ~564,258 deaths each year β more than five times the number of people killed annually in direct armed combat. This warning comes from a new report published in The Lancet, which contextualizes decades of data on how sanctions affect mortality. βFrom a rights-based perspective, evidence that sanctions lead to losses in lives should be sufficient reason to advocate for the suspension of their use,β the studyβs authors argue. But that is far from reality. Over the same decade, nearly a quarter of all of the worldβs countries were affected by sanctions, driven primarily by a sharp increase in unilateral economic measures imposed by the United States and its European allies. While Western sanctions βhave the claimed aim to end wars, protect human rights, or promote democracy,β the report shows they do the very opposite. By restricting a countryβs ability to import essential goods like food, medicine, and medical supplies, and by slashing public budgets, sanctions systematically undermine healthcare systems and other vital services.
