Sanctions put in place by the UK government often hurt the innocent and fail to damage the regimes they target, according to MPs.

But the charges levelled by the Commons International Development Committee have been strongly rejected by the foreign office.

The committee's report said the prime minister's current policies on sanctions should be stopped as they threaten the "political, economic and social rights of the poor" who were often hit by embargoes designed to hurt governments.

"We are convinced that these rights are infringed by the blunt instrument of comprehensive economic sanctions."

'Government too casual'

The committee continued, saying: "To target sanctions against those truly responsible, to gather the necessary intelligence and invest in the required technology, requires an internationally co-ordinated investment of both money and effort."

The UK has, at present, a "too casual" approach to sanctions, the MPs concluded, and called for a United Nations conference on the issue.

The committee also highlighted the lack of monitoring of the humanitarian impact of sanctions.

'Humanitarian aid undermined'

Aid to Yugoslavia was also criticised by the MPs, they said ministers are wrong to agree to the sale of oil only to those provinces linked to opposition to President Slobodan Milosevic.

"We believe that the provision of oil - described as humanitarian - solely to municipalities controlled by opponents of Milosevic serves to undermine fatally the impartiality and neutrality of humanitarian assistance.

"It is one thing to support principled humanitarian aid but quite another to use the risk of diversion as an excuse to supply such assistance solely to one's political allies."

Defending the use of sanctions Foreign Office minister Peter Hain told the BBC: "As far as Iraq is concerned, I don't agree that they haven't worked.

"On the contrary, Iraq's threat to the wider world has been contained for over 10 years now, and that is a significant achievement when you consider that Saddam Hussein invaded neighbouring Iran and Kuwait.

"The policy in that respect has been effective."

Mr Hain also said allowing aid to be channelled to parts of the former Yugoslavia controlled by President Milosevic would be fruitless.

"Humanitarian aid should be provided in situations where you can really deliver it to the people.

"There is no evidence that if you provided it through Slobodan Milosevic's regime that would actually happen," he said.

Speaking for the Conservatives, the party's international development spokesman Gary Streeter said: "The select committee has dealt another body blow to Labour's so-called ethical foreign policy over their casual approach to sanctions."