LONDON: The UK on Wednesday introduced sanctions towards people and establishments it claims are chargeable for gender-based violence in Iran, Syria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
Marking Worldwide Ladies’s Day, International Secretary James Cleverly introduced the measures throughout a go to to Sierra Leone, the place he’s assembly ladies MPs instrumental in passing reforms to assist gender equality.
“This bundle consists of 4 people and one entity concerned in grievous actions — together with army figures who’ve overseen rape and different types of gender-based violence in conflicts in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic,” the International Workplace mentioned in an announcement.
It additionally sanctions Iranian establishments chargeable for implementing obligatory gown codes for ladies “with unreasonable pressure”.
“Selling gender equality brings freedom, boosts prosperity and commerce, and strengthens the safety of us all,” Cleverly mentioned.
“Nonetheless, hard-won beneficial properties on gender equality are below rising risk. These sanctions ship a transparent message that the perpetrators of abhorrent gender-based violence have to be held accountable,” he added.
These sanctioned embody Main Normal James Nando, who commanded the South Sudan Folks’s Defence Forces, and is accused of being one in every of “the primary perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence in Tambura County in 2021”.
Mahamat Salleh Adoum Kette has additionally been sanctioned for overseeing rape by fighters within the Central Africa Republic (CAR), whereas Amjad Youssef has been focused for related actions in Syria.
Cleverly is at present in Sierra Leone visiting his mom’s hometown of Bo “to see how UK-funded tasks are serving to ladies and women”.
The sanctions construct on a earlier wave in December, which included 18 designations concentrating on people accused of being concerned in abuses of human rights, six of which have been associated to sexual violence.