The US Imposes Human Rights Sanctions On China, Myanmar, North Korea: Canada and The United Kingdom joined the United States in imposing sanctions about human rights violations in Myanmar.
On Friday, the United States imposed severe human rights-related sanctions against hundreds of individuals and organizations associated with China, Myanmar, North Korea, and Bangladesh. Also, it included Chinese artificial intelligence firm SenseTime Group on an investment blocklist.
Canada, Canada, and the United Kingdom joined the United States in imposing sanctions relating to human rights violations in Myanmar. Washington also issued new sanctions against North Korea under President Joe Biden’s administration.
They also targeted Myanmar military organizations, among others, as part of the celebrations for Human Rights Day.
“Our actions today, particularly those in partnership with the United Kingdom and Canada, send a message that democracies around the world will act against those who abuse the power of the state to inflict suffering and repression,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
China’s diplomatic embassy in Washington condemned the US decision in Washington as “serious interference in China’s internal affairs” and a “severe violation of basic norms governing international relations.” Liu Pengyu, the embassy’s spokesperson, said that the move could cause “grave harm to China-US relations” and called on Washington to reverse its decision.
The North Korean mission at the United Nations and the Washington embassies of Myanmar and Bangladesh have not responded to clarification inquiries.
The latest sanctions are in a series of sanctions scheduled to fall with Biden’s two-day online Summit for Democracy. In addition, Biden unveiled initiatives to boost democratic processes across the globe and his support for legislation that promotes democracy within the United States.
Biden stated on Friday that the commitments made by a few of the over 100 world leaders attending the summit would help push back against the rise of autocracy around the globe, combat corruption, and advance human rights.
“This is going to help seed fertile ground for democracy to bloom around the world,” the president said in his closing speech at the summit. Although it was announced that the Treasury had included Chinese artificial intelligence firm SenseTime in its listing that provides for “Chinese military-industrial complex companies,” the Treasury said it had developed facial recognition systems that can identify a person’s ethnicity, particular emphasis on the identification of ethnic Uyghurs.
This means that the company will be subject to an investment ban on US investors.
Nevertheless, SenseTime is on track to sell 1.5 billion shares during the first public offering (IPO).
After the news of Treasury restrictions earlier in the week, employees started talking about the outcome of its planned $767 million deal in Hong Kong’s stock exchange, two individuals who have intimate knowledge about the situation confirmed.
SenseTime issued the statement it issued the previous day that they “strongly opposed the designation and accusations that have been made in connection with it,” declaring the accusations “unfounded.”
“We have complied with the applicable laws and regulations about our business in all material respects in the jurisdictions where we conduct business,” the company claimed.
UN specialists and human rights organizations estimate that more than one million people, mostly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, were detained in recent times in a massive system of camps in China’s west-central area of Xinjiang.
China admits that it has committed abuses in Xinjiang; however, the US government and several rights groups claim Beijing is responsible for genocide in the region.
MYANMAR, NORTH KOREA
The Treasury announced that it would impose sanctions on two Myanmar military organizations and an organization that provides reserves to the military.
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The Directorate of Defense Industries, one of the companies targeted, manufactures guns for use by the army and the police, which have been employed in the brutal attack on those who opposed an armed coup on February 1.
It also targeted four regional chief ministers. Treasury has also threatened four chief ministers from the region, Myo Swe Win, who is the head of the junta’s administration within the Bago region. The Treasury claimed that at least 82 people were killed one morning in April.
Canada has imposed sanctions on four organizations that are part of the Myanmar military, and the United Kingdom imposed fresh sanctions against the military.
Myanmar became embroiled in turmoil when the military overthrew the leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her government on February 1, triggering daily protests in cities and towns and fighting in the borderlands between the army and ethnic minority rebels.
Junta forces trying to crush the opposition has killed over 1,300 individuals, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group.
The campaign organization Global Witness said the measures did not go far enough to target the natural gas sector in Myanmar, which is a critical factor in the production of the foreign currency used by the junta, which is “unlikely to impact the military junta’s bottom line materially.”
The Treasury also banned the North Korean Central Public Prosecutors Office and the former social security minister and newly appointed Minister for People’s Armed Forces, Ri Yong Gil.
It also targeted the Russian university to facilitate worker exports of North Korea.
North Korea has long sought the lifting of harsh US sanctions and international sanctions on its nuclear programs. It has repeatedly criticized US criticisms regarding its rights records as evidence of an aggressive approach. Biden administration has frequently demanded North Korea talk about its nuclear and missile programs without much success.
ON FRIDAY, the US State Department also prohibited 12 individuals from traveling to in the United States, including officials from China, Belarus, and Sri Lanka.
