US State Department Assigns 12 Foreign Officials for Human Rights Violations

US State Department Assigns 12 Foreign Officials for Human Rights Violations

Proceeding with a continued effort to imbue human rights into its foreign policy, the US Department of the State Friday the state prosecuted 12 representatives of foreign governments for gross human rights violations or corruption.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken suggested coinciding with International Human Rights Day, 2021. The missions follow coordinated action with Canada, the EU, and the UK to support leaders of Myanmar and Belarus to show restraint towards their citizens.

The list of names includes four Chinese authorities for their contribution to the arbitrary confinement of Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minorities. Mario Plutarco Marin Torres, the former governor of Puebla, Mexico, for his arbitrary imprisonment and torture of journalist Lydia Cacho, and Sri Lankan naval intelligence officer Chandana Hettiarachchi for his inclusion in the confinement and disappearance of a group of predominantly Tamil victims held for recovery at navy bases in Colombo and Trincomalee. This group is Trincomalee 11.

Under section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriation Act, persons with credible evidence that they have been associated with gross violations of human rights can be assigned and become ineligible for entry into the United States.

We are determined to place human rights at the focal point of our foreign policy, states Blinken, and that we reaffirm this responsibility by utilizing correct tools and authorities to draw attention to and advance responsibility for human rights violations and abuses, regardless of where they happen.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control additionally obligatory penalties on fifteen individuals and ten entities for their roles in severe human rights abuse and suppression. The list includes the Chinese firm Sense Time, Russian university European Institute Justo, and four Chief Ministers of Myanmar who nearly actually supported violence against their people.