Sanctions Reform & Human Rights Scholarship

Economic sanctions have become an entrenched feature of U.S. foreign policy and a foundational pillar of national security law. Administered primarily through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), sanctions now shape global financial systems, humanitarian access, diplomacy, corporate compliance, and individual livelihoods.

Despite their centrality, sanctions law remains a niche and frequently misunderstood field. The regulatory framework is complex, inaccessible to many, and often discussed in abstract geopolitical terms rather than through its real-world human impact. As a result, sanctions are commonly viewed in binary terms—either as blunt instruments of coercion or as technocratic tools beyond public scrutiny.

The reality is more complicated.

Like any powerful legal mechanism, sanctions can be misused, overextended, or abused. At the same time, when deployed with coherence, precision, and accountability, sanctions can play a meaningful role in promoting justice, deterring serious wrongdoing, and protecting vulnerable communities—while also shaping domestic political shifts when embedded in a coherent foreign policy strategy.

This scholarship is awarded in the amount of $1,411.05 in recognition of Executive Order 14115, now defunct, issued on February 1, 2024, which marked the first-ever U.S. sanctions program addressing extremist settler violence in the West Bank. The scholarship is launched on the second anniversary of that Executive Order and reflects our belief that sanctions policy, when carefully designed, can serve as a tool for accountability (or compelling a change in behavior) rather than collective harm.

Sanctions Law Center, PLLC is committed to advancing a more rigorous, transparent, and ethically grounded understanding of sanctions law. Through this annual scholarship, we seek to support students who engage critically with sanctions policy—its harms, its limits, and its potential when used within a coherent legal and moral framework.