Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. The other thing is, of course, that you can use the sanctions in a very political way. I'm talking now about the sanctions regime versus trying to freeze the assets of someone who's taken them through criminal activity. You can say, as I think has been done in some instances, that you're going to sanction all of the members of the cabinet in Russia or you're going to sanction because you feel that they're contributing towards the aggression in Crimea, for example, or annexation.

Foreign Affairs committee  That has been a growing question in the international sphere. Traditionally the council has generally used its powers—except in the case of apartheid in South Africa, where it was very directed at those policies—in cases of conflict and in response to conflict and in trying to end conflict, and also in the terrorism context.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, those are very good questions, because that is the dilemma. We do want to be able to take action, especially in dealing with the corruption issue. It's is a major challenge for a great many countries, and very paralyzing, so certainly we do want to assist and be able to return assets.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon to everyone. As indicated, I will provide some comments based on my experience as Ombudsperson for the Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee for five years. I note that while that was an international role, I believe it had a lot of important lessons in terms of sanctions in a national context.