Sanctions

 

Gimme Shelter

Rape, murder, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Mmm, a flood is threatening
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or I'm gonna fade away 

Making something against the law doesn’t eliminate it.

There is an international convention against genocide, therefore there should be no genocide, correct?  There are sanctions in place against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but since there is still fighting, therefore sanctions don’t work, correct?

If you believe these, then you must also believe that rape and murder, which I believe are also against the law,  never occur.  The law can only deter actions, not prevent them. Sanctions are put in place to punish actions, but also to make sure that you are not an accessory to, complicit in, those actions.  Laws and sanctions can signal society’s disapproval. Laws against rape, murder, or genocide are not invalidated by an illegal act.  They are meant to signal society’s position and to deter such actions. They should be judged by the actions that might otherwise have occurred,  not on those actions, which despite the laws and sanctions, did occur. Bad things are still just a shot away.