{"id":1236,"date":"2020-01-02T11:46:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-02T15:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?p=1236"},"modified":"2020-01-02T11:46:42","modified_gmt":"2020-01-02T15:46:42","slug":"ofac-designates-18-individuals-for-abuses-on-international-human-rights-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/02\/ofac-designates-18-individuals-for-abuses-on-international-human-rights-day\/","title":{"rendered":"OFAC Designates 18 Individuals for Abuses on International Human Rights Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

On December 10, 2019, the Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 18 individuals under the authority of the Global Magnitsky Act.\u00a0 Those designated hail from Burma, Pakistan, Libya, Slovakia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and South Sudan, and have committed or presided over a range of human rights abuses in their respective countries.<\/p>\n

Examining Individual Targets of the Sanctions<\/em><\/p>\n

The new sanctions reflect the severity of recent developments in Myanmar, as well as threats to ethnic minorities, journalists, and more in several other states.<\/p>\n

All four persons from Myanmar who were sanctioned<\/a> on December 10th were military commanders complicit in recent human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the country.\u00a0 Min Aung Hlaing and Soe Win, who are both sanctioned, are the Commander and Deputy Commander respectively of the Burmese military forces.\u00a0 Than Oo and Aung Aung, also sanctioned, are respectively the commanders of the 99th and 33rd Light Infantry Divisions, both of which were deployed to the Rakhine State, where some of the most serious human rights abuses have occurred.<\/p>\n

OFAC writes concerning Oo\u2019s 99th Division, \u201cIn one operation in Tula Toli, hundreds of men, women, and children were reportedly forced to the nearby riverbank where the 99th LID opened fire, executing many of the men, and forced women and girls to nearby houses where they were sexually assaulted.\u00a0 A number of these women and children were later stabbed and beaten, with the houses set fire while they were inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Democratic Republic of the Congo accounted for the most individuals from a single country\u2014six of the eighteen\u2014sanctioned by OFAC on December 10th.\u00a0 All six persons from the DRC who were listed are members of the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group that the United Nations designated in 2014 for \u201ctargeting children in situations of armed conflict, including through killing, rape, abduction, and forced displacement impacting the Great Lakes region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musa Baluku, who is the leader of the ADF, was among these six.\u00a0 OFAC writes that each of the remaining five \u201chas materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, the ADF, an entity that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marian Kocner from Slovakia was designated on December 10th for threatening journalist Jan Kucias, who was investigating Kocner\u2019s corrupt practices and fraudulent tax returns to Slovakia.\u00a0 OFAC also designated six entities owned or controlled by Kocner in Slovakia.\u00a0 Kocner was the only individual against whom OFAC took action, whose holdings were also designated.<\/p>\n

Origins and Future of the Global Magnitsky Act<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u201cGlobal Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act” was signed into law on December 23, 2016 as part of the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act.\u00a0 It is named for the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was tortured and killed by officers of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation in 2009 and its earliest forms focused on sanctioning Russia.<\/p>\n

In its initial form, the Act targeted<\/a> those who have committed \u201cgross violations of internationally recognized human rights\u201d against those working either to \u201cexpose illegal activity carried out by government officials\u201d or to \u201cobtain, exercise, defend, or promote internationally recognized human rights and freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Executive Order 13818, issued on December 20, 2017, has recently broadened<\/a> the scope of the Act; this has enabled OFAC to make some of the designations imposed on December 10th.\u00a0 It changed the requirement of \u201cgross violations of internationally recognized human rights\u201d to \u201cserious human rights abuses.\u201d\u00a0 Human Rights First explains<\/a>, \u2018In practice, this change allows the USG greater latitude in making designations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, E.O. 13818 eliminated<\/a> the requirement that victims must have been working to expose illegal activity by the government or exercise other human rights and freedoms.\u00a0 It is probably that the civilian victims of Myanmar’s military forces would not have met this standard.\u00a0 Therefore, E.O. 13818 accounts for OFAC\u2019s action against Min Aung Hlaing, Soe Win, Than Oo, and Aung Aung.<\/p>\n

Since its conception, the Global Magnitsky Act has set a global precedent for combatting human rights abuses.\u00a0 Estonia was<\/a> the first country to adopt its own version of the Global Magnitsky Act, in imitation of the U.S. legislation.\u00a0 However, the U.K., Canada, Latvia, and Lithuania have also followed suit.<\/p>\n

The European Union is also progressing<\/a>, albeit slowly, towards its own version of the Act, despite hesitation from Hungary and other states with close ties to Russia.\u00a0 The Act originated in the U.S. and elsewhere as a means to combat Russia\u2019s human rights abuses, which makes Russia\u2019s close allies in the EU concerned about the possible consequences of sanctioning officials close tot heir own government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On December 10, 2019, the Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 18 individuals under the authority of the Global Magnitsky Act.\u00a0 Those designated hail from Burma, Pakistan, Libya, Slovakia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and South Sudan, and have committed or presided over a range of human rights abuses in their respective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nOFAC 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