Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here and for shedding light on a file involving quite a complex study.
I want to hear from you, because in your opening remarks, you both seem to have stated somewhat different positions. Feel free to correct me if I'm misinterpreting your words.
Mr. Goldman, you seemed to say that the sanctions are preventive and not punitive. Mr. Nossal, you argued the opposite, if I understood correctly. You think the sanctions are essentially punitive or symbolic and not effective.
Let's look at this first difference and at the statistics, which particularly impressed me, on the number of economic sanction programs supported by the UN and the number of programs supported by the United States. The number is almost double. Regarding the people who are personally affected by sanctions, the number is five times higher in the United States.
Is the difference related to a systemic difference in the approach, basically, and design of the sanctions programs? Or is it related to the cumbersome nature of an institution such as the UN, for example?
Let's start with Mr. Goldman.