The U.K. on Feb. 1 added four entities to its Myanmar sanctions regime: the 101st and 77th Light Infantry divisions, Mining Enterprise 1 and Mining Enterprise 2. The infantry divisions were added for violating "the right of life of persons in Myanmar" and for carrying out arrests and torture "on the basis" of "political opinion, religious belief or ethnicity," the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation notice said. The mining enterprises were listed because of their ties with the Myanmar Security Forces.

Australia this week announced a new set of sanctions against Myanmar, designating several entities with ties to the country’s military regime. The sanctions target Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank, two banks that “enable the regime's activities,” and Asia Sun Group, Asia Sun Trading Co. Ltd., and Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics Co. Ltd., which supply jet fuel to the military. Australia said it will “continue to use every lever at our disposal to press the regime for the cessation of violence, the release of those unjustly detained, unimpeded humanitarian access, and a return to the path of democracy.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two companies with ties to the Myanmar military along with four of their “cronies” for helping the regime fund itself. The designations were announced days after the U.S. updated its Myanmar business advisory (see 2401300010) and mark the three-year anniversary of the country’s military coup, which sparked multiple rounds of sanctions and export controls by the U.S. and its allies (see 2310310028, 2306210017, 2303240024 and 2107020003).

The Biden administration this week updated its guidance for companies doing business in Myanmar with new industry sectors and business activities that may lead to sanctions evasion, export control violations or other supply chain risks. The update now specifically mentions Myanmar’s rare earth elements; base metals and gold; timber; and aviation services industries, and warns companies about goods being diverted to military end uses and end users in the country; risks posed by financial services provided by state-owned banks; and ongoing forced labor and human rights abuses against Myanmar workers.

Behrouz Mokhtari of McLean, Virginia, and Tehran pleaded guilty Jan. 9 to two conspiracies to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran "by engaging in business activities on behalf of Iranian entities" without getting a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced Jan. 9. Mokhtari will forfeit money, property and assets obtained from the schemes, including a Campbell, California, home, and a money judgment of over $2.8 million, DOJ said. The defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the two conspiracy counts.

The European Council this week added to its sanctions regimes for Iran and Myanmar and extended its restrictions on Mali for another year.

The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued a range of new sanctions to mark the internationally recognized Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, designating people across more than 10 jurisdictions for their ties to human rights violations. They include U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials with ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including one designated under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.

The EU this week put in place humanitarian exemptions for 10 of its sanctions regimes to authorize certain transactions related to aid and “basic human needs,” the European Council said. The exemptions, which implement the U.N. Security Council’s humanitarian carve-out that the body approved last year (see 2212120054), cover EU’s sanctions regime for cyberattacks as well as its regimes for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Guinea, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Tunisia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent sanctions moves from the European Council concerning the situations in Myanmar and Guinea, the council announced.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, applauded the Treasury Department’s new sanctions this week against the Myanmar state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (see 2310310028), saying the measures will “disrupt the junta’s access to the U.S. financial system and curtail its ability to commit further human rights violations.”