EU Extends Sanctions For Human Rights Violations For Another Year - EU Council

The European Union has extended the sanctions regime for serious human rights violations for a year, the EU Council said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2022) The European Union has extended the sanctions regime for serious human rights violations for a year, the EU Council said on Monday.

The EU's global sanctions regime was put into effect on December 8, 2020.

"The Council today prolonged the sanctions under its EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime against individuals and entities responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses worldwide for an additional year, until 8 December 2023," the Council said in a statement.

The sanctions include an EU travel ban and an assets freeze. In addition, individuals and entities in the EU are prohibited from providing funds to those included in the sanctions list, the Council added.

On March 2, 2021, the EU first applied sanctions under this new regime against four Russian citizens.

The list then expanded to include, among others, defendants from China, Russia, Libya, South Sudan and North Korea. Currently, 17 individuals and five legal entities are on the sanctions list.

The regime provides for restrictive measures for violations of fundamental freedoms and human rights, including freedom of conscience, the right to peaceful assembly, as well as for genocide, torture, human trafficking, and sexual violence.

In September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU Commission would propose to make corruption a human rights violation punishable by sanctions, a tool that will help protect European values abroad. So far, such a proposal has not been officially announced.