The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Feb. 1 amended and added sanctions entries under nine sanctions regimes. The U.K. amended entries under the regimes for Russia, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Iran, chemical weapons, the Central African Republic and Afghanistan. The U.K. also added four entries to its Zimbabwe regime.
The United Nations warned that Sri Lanka’s policies and practices are ripe for human rights violations and urged member states to sanction human rights abusers in the country. “States can consider targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a Jan. 27 statement. The U.N. said Sri Lanka has created “parallel military task forces and commissions that encroach on civilian functions” and reversed “important institutional checks and balances.” Bachelet urged “the international community to listen to the determined, courageous, persistent calls of victims and their families for justice, and heed the early warning signs of more violations to come.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Feb. 2 updated a general license that authorizes transactions involving Venezuela’s ports and airports. General License No. 30A, which replaces No. 30 (see 1908060048), also authorizes certain transactions and activities that involve Venezuela’s Instituto Nacional de los Espacios Acuáticos (INEA) or any entity INEA owns by 50% or more. OFAC said the license does not authorize transactions or activities related to the export or reexport of “diluents” to Venezuela.
Japanese lawmakers plan to launch a multi-partisan group to draft sanctions legislation targeting human rights violations, the EU Sanctions blog said in a Jan. 28 post. The group plans to hold its first meeting this month.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control extended a general license authorizing certain transactions involving securities of companies that “closely” match the name of a company identified as a Chinese military company (see 2011130026), a Jan. 27 notice said. General License No. 1A, which replaced General License No. 1 (see 2101120026), authorizes the transactions through 9:30 a.m. EDT May 27 and past the original expiration date of Jan. 28. OFAC also added language to the license to specify that it does not authorize transactions with securities of entities listed on OFAC’s Non-Specially Designated Nationals Communist Chinese Military Companies List or Defense Department-issued lists (see 2101150006). The agency updated frequently asked questions 878 and 879 to reflect the change.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated its sanctions list search tool to include “fuzzy logic that is more resource efficient,” a Jan. 25 notice said. The changes will improve the performance and responsiveness of the search tool, OFAC said. Users “may see differences between search results from the previous version of the tool and the newer version.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 25 issued a new general license and updated an existing frequently asked question related to trade with Yemen-based Ansarallah, a U.S.-sanctioned foreign terrorist organization (see 2101110015). General License No. 13 authorizes certain transactions with Ansarallah or its subsidiaries through 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 26. OFAC also updated FAQ 876 to mention the new general license. OFAC issued four general licenses on Jan. 19 to authorize certain transactions with Ansarallah, including trade in humanitarian goods (see 2101190016).
The European Union renewed sanctions against Tunisia until Jan. 31, 2022, and deleted four sections entries under the regime, the EU said in Jan. 25 notices. The deleted entries are for Bouthaina Bent Moncef Ben Mohamed Trabelsi, Nabil Ben Abderrazek Ben Mohamed Trabelsi, Akrem Ben Hamed Ben Taher Bouaouina and Slim Ben Tijani Ben Haj Hamda Ben Ali.
President Joe Biden recently ordered a review of all U.S. and multilateral financial and economic sanctions to see if they are hindering the COVID-19 pandemic response. The Jan. 21 executive order calls on the secretaries of the State, Treasury and Commerce departments, with input from the Department of Health and Human Services secretary and the U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, to conduct the review and provide recommendations on the state of these sanctions to the national security adviser and COVID-19 response coordinator. This sanctions-review provision is part of a broader order on reestablishing American leadership in the global pandemic response and reorienting the U.S.'s national security priorities to combat COVID-19.
The United Nations Security Council removed Iraqi nationals Zuhair Talib Abd al-Sattar al-Naqib and Amir Rashid Muhammad al-Ubaidi from its sanctions list, a Jan. 18 news release said. Both were designated in 2003.