(THREAD) New UN Panel of Expert report on N. Korea sanctions out now.
Good: estimates of damage on NK's economy, recognition of humanitarian & social impact.
Bad: incoherent conclusions, and a bizarrely explicit (political?) avoidance of our report
https://undocs.org/ru/S/2020/151  (1/11)

"There can be little doubt that United Nations sanctions have had unintended effects on the humanitarian situation and aid operations." (p.73) Right. But can we really still call it unintended? The evidence of adverse humanitarian impact keeps piling up. (2/11)

Intention matters because para. 25 of resolution 2397 insists the sanctions are "not intended to have adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population of the DPRK." Indiscriminate punishment of a whole population is highly problematic legally and morally. (3/11)

UNPoE says impact "might include" disappearance of sources of livelihood, social marginalization, agricultural and medical disruption, financial disruption (p.73). Also says "reasonable to assume... disproportionate effects on the most vulnerable." (p.262) (4/11)

But after estimating $4.6-8.2 billion damage, UNPoE says (p.256): "declines in affected sectors are an intended consequence of UN sanctions and... the panel has no specific information about how income loss may affect humanitarian aid and the civilian population." (5/11)

Let's get this straight:
A. There is "little doubt" that sanctions have a humanitarian impact (p.73)
B. "declines in affected sectors are an intended consequence" (p.256)
So isn't it clear that the intended consequences have a humanitarian impact, e.g. on livelihoods? (6/11)

My co-authors and I argued this point last year in a report commissioned by @KoreaPeaceNow. We alerted that sanctions may thus be causing serious humanitarian and human rights violations and recommended a review of their legality. (7/11) https://koreapeacenow.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/human-costs-and-gendered-impact-of-sanctions-on-north-korea.pdf

We sent it to UNSC members after getting major media coverage, but all the Council did was to streamline exemptions a bit. The UNPoE had last year called for a UNSG review of humanitarian impact so I was hoping for it to raise its voice again. (8/11) https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-sanctions-contribute-to-deaths-of-innocent-civilians-report-says-11572414898

While UNPoE this year made important findings on the causal link between sanctions and humanitarian impact, its recommendations are disappointingly timid. It removed calls for UNSG review and for a whitelist of humanitarian items. Why, when COVID is raging? (9/11)

What's most bizarre about the UNPoE report is that they have an annex mirroring the reasoning of our report and not only do they not credit us, they claim there are no studies on the matter and cite themselves (p.262). There were two UNPoE experts at our report launch (10/11)

Anyway, if you want to read a report that tells it like it is, not nitpicking about obvious causality, with all the due citations, check out what our amazing team put together: https://koreapeacenow.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/human-costs-and-gendered-impact-of-sanctions-on-north-korea.pdf (11/11)
@keepark @JoyYoon9 @DrKevinGray