{"id":9232,"date":"2021-09-24T19:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T23:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/?p=9232"},"modified":"2021-09-24T19:16:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T23:16:00","slug":"new-sanctions-in-ethiopia-include-protections-for-humanitarian-and-other-civil-society-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/news\/new-sanctions-in-ethiopia-include-protections-for-humanitarian-and-other-civil-society-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"New Sanctions in Ethiopia Include Protections for Humanitarian and Other Civil Society Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/presidential-actions\/2021\/09\/17\/executive-order-on-imposing-sanctions-on-certain-persons-with-respect-to-the-humanitarian-and-human-rights-crisis-in-ethiopia\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new Executive Order<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (EO) issued on Sept. 17, 2021 authorizes the Department of Treasury to impose sanctions on persons and entities responsible for the current wave of violence in Ethiopia. Although the Executive Order cancels the humanitarian exemption in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, it effectively restored it by simultaneously issuing a General License designed to protect a broad array of civil society activities by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Two additional General Licenses cover programs by the UN and other key international organizations as well as permitting export and reexport of agricultural and medical commodities. The General Licenses also protect non-U.S. persons and entities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Executive Order sets out criteria that can result in sanctions, ranging from acts of violence and human rights abuses to obstructing delivery of humanitarian aid. It also lists a menu of sanctions that can be imposed, including freezing assets. The EO has two other notable provisions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It says that \u201cNo entity shall be blocked pursuant to this order solely because it is owned in whole or in part directly or indirectly, by one or more sanctioned persons\u2026\u201d (Sec. 2(b)) This avoids the Office of Foreign Assets Control\u2019s (OFAC) \u201c50% rule,\u201d which also treats entities where a listed group has a 50 percent or greater interest as equally sanctioned. (See also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/policy-issues\/financial-sanctions\/faqs\/923\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FAQ 923<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It explicitly states that the order \u201cshall not prohibit transactions for the conduct of the official business of the Federal Government by employees, grantees, and contractors thereof.\u201d (Sec. 10) This avoids the bizarre past practice of forcing agencies like USAID to get licenses from OFAC to carry out their programs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The three General Licenses that came out with the EO were accompanied by OFAC <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/policy-issues\/financial-sanctions\/faqs\/topic\/7886\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Frequently Asked Questions 922-927<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/system\/files\/126\/ethiopia_gl1.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">General License 1<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> applies to the UN and other specific international organizations and allows for all transactions and actions for the conduct of their official business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/system\/files\/126\/ethiopia_gl2.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">General License 2<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> applies to NGOs. The types of transactions authorized include \u201cprocessing and transfer of funds, payment of taxes, fees and import duties; and purchase or receipt of permits, licenses, or public utility services.\u201d It permits transactions and activities that would otherwise be prohibited by the EO in both Ethiopia and Eritrea if they \u201care ordinarily incident and necessary\u201d for activities in the five categories:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Humanitarian project to meet basic human needs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Democracy building<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Education<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Non-commercial development projects<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Environmental and natural resource protection<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">General License 2 provides examples of protected programming in each category. However, one important additional example is provided in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/policy-issues\/financial-sanctions\/faqs\/926\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FAQ 926<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where it states that democracy building includes \u201cactivities to support conflict mitigation.\u201d This differentiates the Ethiopia sanctions from other recent OFAC actions, such as the Sept. 24, 2012 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/news\/treasury-issues-two-general-licenses-for-humanitarian-activities-in-afghanistan\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">General Licenses on Afghanistan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which do not mention either democracy building or conflict mitigation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/system\/files\/126\/ethiopia_gl3.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">General License 3<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 exempts agricultural commodities, medicine and medical supplies and software updates from OFAC licensing, but notes that it is still necessary to get authorization from the Department of Commerce\u2019s Bureau of Industry and Security. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new Executive Order (EO) issued on Sept. 17, 2021 authorizes the Department of Treasury to impose sanctions on persons and entities responsible for the current wave of violence in Ethiopia. Although the Executive Order [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,5,71,69,41],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Sanctions in Ethiopia Include Protections for Humanitarian and Other Civil Society Projects - Charity &amp; Security Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/news\/new-sanctions-in-ethiopia-include-protections-for-humanitarian-and-other-civil-society-projects\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Sanctions in Ethiopia Include Protections for Humanitarian and Other Civil Society Projects - Charity &amp; Security Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new Executive Order (EO) issued on Sept. 17, 2021 authorizes the Department of Treasury to impose sanctions on persons and entities responsible for the current wave of violence in Ethiopia. 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