Australia plans to revise its sanctions laws to allow increased punishments for weapons proliferation, human rights violations, malicious cyber activity and corruption, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said Aug. 5. The sanctions will “expand upon Australia’s current country-based autonomous sanctions framework,” Payne said, adding that Australia plans to introduce amendments to the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 to “achieve these important reforms” by the end of the year. “Once the types of conduct are established, Australia will have the ability to impose targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against individuals and entities determined to be involved in such sanctionable conduct wherever it occurs, without having to establish specific country-based regimes,” Payne said.

The World Bank recently published a new Global Suspension & Debarment Directory, detailing how 23 governments and jurisdictions use exclusion frameworks to penalize suppliers from procurement eligibility based on fraud, corruption, sanctions breaches or other violations of that country’s laws. The directory includes sections on the U.S., China, Canada, Germany, Australia and others.

The European Union added eight more names to its Nicaraguan sanctions regime Aug. 2, bringing the total number of sanctions individuals to 14. The eight, including Vice President Rosario Murillo, were added for undermining democracy or the rule of law. "The political situation in Nicaragua has further deteriorated in recent months," a European Council news release said. "The political use of the judicial system, the exclusion of candidates from the elections and the arbitrary delisting of opposition parties are contrary to basic democratic principles and constitute a serious violation of the rights of the Nicaraguan people. These actions further undermine the credibility of an electoral process, already hampered by an electoral reform that fell short of the recommendations of the OAS and EU Electoral Observation Missions." The other seven listed individuals are Gustavo Porras Cortes, Juan Valle Valle, Ana Guido Ochoa, Fidel Dominguez Alvarez, Alba Ramos Vanegas, Juan Carlos Ortega Murillo and Bayardo Arce Castano. The sanctions amount to an asset freeze and a travel ban.

The European Council removed the former deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Sayed Shamsuddin Borborudi, from its Iran sanctions list and Libyan Gen. Khaled Tohami from its Libyan sanctions regime July 29. The council delisted both individuals following judgments from the European Union General Court to delete the listings.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Cuban police officials and a police agency for human rights violations stemming from the government’s recent violent crackdown on pro-democracy protestors, according to a July 30 news release. The designations target the Policia Nacional Revolucionaria and Director Oscar Alejandro Callejas Valcarce and Deputy Director Eddy Manuel Sierra Arias.

The U.S. is planning a sanctions campaign to target Iranian procurement programs for drones and guided missiles, The Wall Street Journal reported July 29. The sanctions could target providers of parts used to build the drones and missiles because U.S. military officials have seen a “major increase” in the use of drones against U.S. forces, the report said. The sanctions could target Iranian import channels from Russia and China, the report said. The Treasury Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control didn’t comment.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a range of sanctions targeting people and entities in Syria and Turkey for human rights abuses or for funding terrorism, OFAC said July 28. The first set of sanctions targeted Turkey-based al-Qaida financial facilitator Hasan Al-Shaban and Syria-based terrorism fundraiser Farrukh Furkatovitch Fayzimatov. Other designations targeted eight Syrian prisons controlled by the Bashar al-Assad regime, five senior Syrian security officials, the Syrian armed group Ahrar al-Sharqiya and Syria military intelligence agencies. OFAC also revised two existing Syria-related entries on its Specially Designated Nationals List.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control July 27 released more than 30 Ukraine-related web general licenses that have expired or are nearing expiration. The licenses include numerous iterations for General License No. 13, which authorized certain transactions with specific blocked entities related to Ukraine, and General License No. 15, which authorized certain transactions with GAZ Group and its subsidiaries. The most recent versions of GL 13 and 15 are scheduled to expire in January 2022 (see 2012230066).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a senior Cuban official and a government agency for their involvement in the repression of pro-democratic protests on the island this month, OFAC said July 22. The designations target Alvaro Lopez Miera, the Cuban defense minister, and the Brigada Especial Nacional del Ministerio del Interior (also known as the Boinas Negras or the Black Berets). “This is just the beginning,” President Joe Biden said in a July 22 statement. “The United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people.”

The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added five names to its global anti-corruption sanctions listings, a financial sanctions notice said July 22. Nawfal Hammadi Al-Sultan of Iraq, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue of Equatorial Guinea, Alvaro Enrique Pulido Vargas of Colombia, Alex Nain Saab Moran of Colombia and Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei of Zimbabwe will now be subject to an asset freeze.