The European Union extended its Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime for another year, until Dec. 8, 2022, the European Council said. The measures subjects 14 individuals a travel ban and asset freeze and four entities to an asset freeze. Further, individuals and entities in the EU are precluded from making funds available to listed entities, either directly or indirectly.
Airbnb may be violating U.S. sanctions by listing more than a dozen homes for rent on land owned by a sanctioned paramilitary Chinese entity, said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. In a Dec. 7 letter to the company, Rubio said Airbnb is “complicit in enriching an organization facilitating horrific human rights abuse” and called on Airbnb to delist the rentals. Airbnb lists homes for rent on land owned by Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2020 for helping to create a surveillance and detention program for Muslim minority groups (see 2111300031 and 2007310028). Although the company said it operates a sanctions compliance program and doesn’t believe it’s violating sanctions, Rubio said he doesn’t understand how transactions related to the rentals are legal. “How a paramilitary organization complicit in heinous human rights abuses could pass such a screen is beyond comprehension,” Rubio said. “By continuing to allow these listings, Airbnb is implicitly endorsing and encouraging travel to Xinjiang, a region host to an ongoing genocide.” An Airbnb spokesperson and Treasury spokesperson declined to comment.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned people and entities in Uganda, Iran and Syria for human rights abuses or for undermining democratic institutions. The designations target military or government officials in all three countries as well as two Iranian law enforcement agencies and two Iranian prisons, OFAC said Dec. 7. The U.S. purposefully issued the sanctions just ahead of its democracy summit later this week, which will convene more than 100 of the world’s democracies to discuss collaboration on human rights issues, anti-corruption and more. “Consistent with the goals of this week’s Summit for Democracy, the United States is committed to using its full range of tools to counter serious human rights abuse and repressive acts across the world,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
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The U.S.’s new anti-corruption strategy, coupled with its democracy summit later this week, could convince more allies to adopt Global Magnitsky sanctions regimes, former U.S. officials said. They said the administration’s plans to pursue more multilateral sanctions and trade restrictions at the summit could build a more united front to address global corruption and human rights abuses.
The EU General Court issued judgments Nov. 24 in four Syria sanctions annulment applications. The court annulled Bashar Assi's and Khaldoun Al Zoubi's listings, noting the EU had failed to show that either man was a leading businessperson or associated with the regime when the sanctions acts were enacted, the opinion said.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to list methoxetamine (MXE), a member of the arylcyclohexylamine class of drugs with dissociative anesthetic and hallucinogenic properties, similar to phencyclidine (PCP) and ketamine, under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice released Dec. 6. “If finalized, this action would impose the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis with, or possess), or propose to handle, methoxetamine.” Comments are due by Feb. 7.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Alain Mukonda and 12 companies linked to Mukonda for providing support to sanctioned billionaire Dan Gertler, OFAC said Dec. 6. Mukonda and the companies are based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Iran hasn’t offered “serious” proposals to return to the Iranian nuclear deal and has continued to accelerate its nuclear program despite objections from the U.S. and other countries, a senior State Department official said. The official, speaking to reporters Dec. 4, suggested the latest round of talks to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action ended poorly after Iran demanded too many concessions and offered too little in return.
The Biden administration unveiled a new strategy to counter corruption, and officials said they are planning new sanctions in the coming days to target corrupt actors and other international criminals. As part of the strategy, which came after a 200-day review by federal agencies to determine how the U.S. can better curb illicit finance, the administration will increase anti-corruption work at the Treasury, State and Commerce departments, according to a Dec. 6 White House fact sheet. The U.S. also will take “meaningful steps” to stop corrupt actors from using the U.S. and the international financial systems.