Opinion: The European Court of Justice Kadi decision and the future of UN counterterrorism sanctions

10/30/09: The American Society of International Law has a piece by Peter Fromuth, a lawyer and former State Department official, arguing that the UN’s key contribution to anti-terrorism cooperation is to act as the legal trigger for international enforcement action, but that the UN counter-terrorism sanctions regime must find a better balance with the rights of the individuals it targets before the regime can work. The piece highlights how a 2008 decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Kadi & Al Barakaat Int’l Found. v. Council of the E.U. & Comm’n of the E.C., challenged the core framework of UN terrorist sanctions and forced UN member states to tackle difficult legal questions or else face possible collapse of the UN’s terrorist sanctions regime.