The Security Council’s Assets Freeze against Gaddafi’s Libya and its implementation in Italy

The Security Council’s reaction to breaches of human rights in Gaddafi’s Libya through Resolutions 1970 and 1973 in March 2011 included the adoption of targeted economic sanctions against president Gaddafi, members of his family, collaborators and Libyan State-owned entities – the central bank, State-owned companies and sovereign wealth funds (SWF) – controlled by the individuals in power in Libya. The sanctions consist of an arms embargo, travel bans and the freezing of financial assets and economic resources. Such sanctions are still partially in force at the moment of closing this article. The article examines these Security Councilsanctions against the background of past practice and discusses related legal issues, as well as the effectiveness of sanctions. The article goes on to address the peculiar aspects of the implementation of the asset freeze in Italy, in onformitywith the implementation regulations of the European Union, in view of the fact that Libyan SWF owned (and still own) substantial equity in major Italian companies.Issues relating to the de-freezing of those assets and their transfer to the new Libyan governmental authorities is also discussed, considering further the interference of the releasing of those assets with the implementation in Italy of the seizure of the same ordered by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure compensation of the victims of the past regime’s crimes.[...]