On Human Rights Day, US imposes sanctions over Xinjiang, Myanmar abuses

The United States marked International Human Rights Day Friday with the announcement of sanctions on dozens of people and entities tied to rights abuses in China, Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh, while blacklisting a Chinese artificial intelligence company. The financial and visa sanctions came on the final day of President Joe Biden's virtual Summit for Democracy, where he unveiled policies to bolster democracy against threats around the world and appealed for solidarity among some 100 participants. "On International Human Rights Day, Treasury is using its tools to expose and hold accountable perpetrators of serious human rights abuse," Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said in a statement. "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," he added. The sanctions on China slapped a U.S. visa ban on the current and previous chairmen of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (XUAR), Erken Tuniyaz and Shohrat Zakir, and came a day after a tribunal in London found that Chinese policies in the region constituted genocide.