EU Commission Publishes Consolidated List of Travel Bans & Other Sanctions

(© Andreykuzmin | Dreamstime.com)

The Commission of the European Union has published a consolidated list of travel bans in its EU Sanctions Map tool.

Announcing the news, the Commission explained that this tool will allow the citizens of the EU to see who is subject to a travel ban under the sanction measures and therefore prohibited from travelling to the EU, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

According to the Commission, the Sanctions Tool is available to the authorities of each Member State as well as to EU citizens. It has been revealed that the aim of the Sanctions Tool is to provide easily accessible data and information about the restrictive measures that have been adopted by the EU until now.

The EU Sanctions Map tool shows that restrictive measures currently apply to individuals and entities of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Guinea, Mali, Tunisia, Libya, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.

The countries against which the most thematic restrictions currently apply are Belarus, North Korea, Russia, and Syria.

The Commission highlighted that the information on the EU Sanctions Map is updated regularly after any amendments to existing sanctions regimes.

Commenting on the publication of the consolidated list of travel bans, the High Representative responsible for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that the travel bans are an essential component of the EU’s foreign policy toolbox and a key feature of most sanctions regimes.

“Since 2014, the Council has imposed travel bans against 1,091 individuals in response to their actions violating Ukraine’s sovereignty. Since the start of the illegal Russian aggression in Ukraine this year, approximately 900 travel bans restricting entry into the territory of the EU have been imposed against individuals who support and facilitate that aggression,” Borrell added.

Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, responsible for sanctions implementation, financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union, also commented on the list. She said that it is very important that there is transparency.

“This includes those who are implicated, in one way or another, in Russia’s unjustified aggression against the people of Ukraine. We have now updated our publicly accessible tool, which helps facilitate the implementation of our sanctions. Our Sanctions Map is one more way of shedding light on those responsible,” the statement of McGuinness reads.

The EU authorities impose travel bans and other restrictive measures on individuals and entities to prevent conflict or respond to emerging or current crises. Currently, the EU has over 40 different sanctions regimes in place.