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Working for Open Government, Democracy, Constitutionalism, Rule of Law, Justice and Human Rights
SANCTIONS: THE EU, US AND POST-MUGABE ZIMBABWE
By Derek Matyszak, Senior Lawyer, Veritas 11/11/2019
Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1
The European Union ................................................................................................................................. 2
EC/148/2002 ......................................................................................................................................... 3
2002/145/CFSP ..................................................................................................................................... 3
The United States ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Presidential Executive Orders ............................................................................................................... 5
ZIDERA ................................................................................................................................................... 6
Implementation and effects ..................................................................................................................... 8
EU Sanctions Post-Mugabe ................................................................................................................... 8
US Sanctions Post Mugabe ................................................................................................................... 8
Spillover effects................................................................................................................................... 11
The Government Narratives ................................................................................................................... 12
Introduction
The Government of Zimbabwe blames the country’s steep economic decline in the decades after 2000,
on sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, particularly those of the EU and US. The Government has framed
these measures as an international trade embargo against Zimbabwe and, because they do not have the
imprimatur of the United Nations Security Council, maintain that they are illegal.
The measures imposed by the US, EU and other western countries, are neither a trade embargo
against Zimbabwe nor purport to bind all countries of the United Nations. The legality of the measures
imposed by the EU was upheld in two legal suits brought before the General Court of the Court of
Justice of the European Union. The cases were reported as Tomana and Others v The Council of the
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