UN sanctions relating to Afghanistan were first introduced in 1999 by UN Security Council Resolution 1267, and required all Member States to impose an arms embargo, asset freezes, and travel bans on people and entities associated with Osama bin Laden or the Taliban, as designated by the relevant UN sanctions committee.
The Swiss Federal Council has adopted the humanitarian exemption to UN sanctions regimes introduced by the Security Council in December 2022, as set out in Resolution 2664 (2022) (previous post). The exemption provides that certain categories of humanitarian actors may engage in the provision, processing or payment of funds, other financial assets, or economic resources, or the provision of goods …
Jonathan Hall QC, the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, released his annual report in April 2022. Notice. In addition to analysis of other terrorism legislation and measures, the report discusses terrorism sanctions in the context of the “fall of the Afghan government” in 2021 and says that: UK government communications concerning humanitarian aid and sanctions on the Taleban (also …
On 25 February 2022, OFAC issued Afghanistan-related General Licence (GL) 20, which authorises all transactions involving Afghanistan or governing institutions in Afghanistan prohibited by the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, the Foreign Terrorist Organisations Sanctions Regulations or Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended, subject to certain exceptions relating to financial transitions involving the Taliban or the Haqqani Network, luxury items/services and …
US President Biden has signed an Executive Order which will block the property of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), Afghanistan’s central bank, that is held in the US by US financial institutions, and require US financial institutions to transfer the property into a consolidated account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The White House has said that $3.5 …
The EU has amended its Afghanistan sanctions regime to include a new humanitarian exemption. This follows the UN’s adoption of a humanitarian exemption to Taliban-related sanctions on 22 December 2021 (see previous post). The legal acts are: Council Regulation (EU) 2022/148, which amends Regulation (EU) No 753/2011 to disapply asset freezes where “making available of funds or economic resources necessary …
Amended by:
Amended by: