Today, on International Anti-Corruption Day and on the eve of Human Rights Day, the United States is announcing additional measures against those connected to corruption and human rights abuses.
The Department of State is today designating 14 individuals, including immediate family members, from countries around the world for significant corruption and one individual for gross violations of human rights, pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department’s annual appropriations act, rendering them ineligible for entry into the United States. Concurrently, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in consultation with the Department of State, is imposing sanctions on nine individuals and 19 entities for corruption related to Zimbabwe and two individuals and one entity connected to serious human rights abuses in Syria and Yemen. The Department also issued our first visa restrictions under a new authority, announced last year, to deny safe haven to the actors who enable corruption.
This year, the United States used a range of tools to promote accountability for acts of corruption and human rights abuses worldwide, to disrupt networks and patterns of abusive and illicit activity, and to deter future acts. This includes sanctioning 67 individuals and entities under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program in 2024 to date. In addition, the Department of State publicly designated 81 individuals, including immediate family members, for involvement in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights under Section 7031(c) during 2024. The Department of State also took steps to impose visa restrictions on over 200 individuals for undermining democracy, repressing marginalized groups, engaging in transnational repression, and misusing commercial spyware.
Our actions reflect the United States’ continued commitment to promoting accountability for corrupt actors and human rights abusers worldwide and achieving the ideals of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
These public designations are made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024 (Div. F, P.L. 118-47), carried forward by the Continuing Appropriations Act , 2025 (Div. A, P.L. 118-83), and visa restrictions are pursuant to section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Department of the Treasury’s sanctions actions were taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818 and E.O. 13894. For more information, see the Department of State’s fact sheet and Treasury’s press release.
