US Imposes Sanctions On China, Myanmar, North Korea And Bangladesh

Marking the Human Rights Day, the United States of America imposed severe sanctions on China, Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh and has blacklisted the Chinese artificial intelligence company, SenseTime Group. Additionally, Canada and the United Kingdom have joined the US in imposing sanctions relating to human rights violations in Myanmar, and Washington has imposed its first sanction under Biden's governance on North Korea.

These are some of the measures taken under Biden's presidency as a part of his two-day virtual summit for democracy, where he announced to take initiatives to boost democracy across the globe. While China responded with serious warning, the North Korean mission at the United Nations and the Washington embassies at Myanmar and North Korea did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While the USA straightening its crown for the initiative, commented, "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," by the Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo in a statement, as reported by the Al Jazeera.

Accusing China of detaining more than one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, China's far west region, the USA has imposed sanctions on China for carrying out a genocide in hiding. The Chinese artificial intelligence company, SenseTime apparently has developed a facial recognition program that identifies a target's ethnicity, focusing on identifying the Uighurs to detain them, as per the accusation by The Treasury, thereby adding the company on an investment blacklist.

Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh

The Treasury has imposed sanctions on two military entities and an organization in Myanmar that provides reserves for the military. Myanmar which has been in a military coup since February 1, 2021, has been witnessing constant protests against the junta and the military, against whom the sanctions have been imposed by Canada and UK as well. US has imposed sanctions of four regional chief ministers for their involvement with the military.

Sanctions against North Korea has been imposed for their constant nuclear and missile programmes, which they resort to as a comeback for the US and international sanctions. US has repeatedly failed to call North Korea for dialogue instead of nuclear programmes, and the human rights sanctions by the US has been ticked off as hostile policy against them by North Korea.

Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion and six individuals linked to it were given sanctions for being responsible for alleged involvement in hundreds of disappearances and nearly 600 extrajudicial killings since 2018. While local rights activists welcomed the move, the Bangladesh government has protested against the sanctions accusing the US of being "unfair and exaggerated" in their sanctions imposed.

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