The European Union Announces A Series Of Sanctions Against Those Responsible For Violating Women's Rights

Among those affected are two Taliban leaders in Afghanistan and two Russian police officers.

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Published on 07/03/2023 16:50

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It is an unprecedented and symbolic approach on the eve of March 8th. The European Union on Tuesday March 7 imposed sanctions on those responsible for sexual violence and violations of women’s rights in six countries, including Afghanistan, Iran and Russia. These sanctions also affect South Sudan, Burma and Syria. This is a first in the EU against perpetrators of sexual violence, said Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra.

“By imposing these sanctions, we are sending a clear message to the perpetrators that their crimes will not go unpunished,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra. “These appalling and inhumane crimes have consequences. It is also a message to the victims: the EU will support you wherever you are in the world.”

Sexual violence as a “tactic of war”

Among those facing asset freezes and an EU travel ban are two Taliban officials: Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadeem, “responsible for widespread violations of women’s right to education” and the Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and the prevention of Vice Mohammad Khalid Hanafi. A Moscow police officer, Alexander Fedorinov, and one of his subordinates, Ivan Ryabov, are also targeted and accused of arbitrary arrest and torture of anti-war protesters. As well as two senior Russian military officials, Nikolai Kuznetsov and Ramil Ibatoullin, for sexual violence and rape committed by men under their command in Ukraine in March and April 2022.

Two local South Sudanese officials leading pro-government militias, Gatluak Nyang Hoth and Gordon Koang Biel, face sanctions for “systematic use of sexual violence as a tactic of war”. Also in the European viewfinder: Deputy Burmese Interior Minister Toe Ui. He is accused of allowing military security personnel under his command to use “forced nudity, rape, electric shocks, genital burns and excessive force during the arbitrary detention and interrogation of men, women” and specifically “members of the LGBTQI community”. .

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