Recently, news has been circulating that Canada added Lebanon to its list of countries subject to sanctions, implying new sanctions against the country. But how true is this claim?
Claim: Canada recently imposed sanctions against the Lebanese Republic.
Verdict: The claim is not accurate. No new sanctions were added against Lebanon by the Canadian government as of the time of writing.
Supporting details:
- On the official website of the Canadian International Affairs, under Current Sanctions Imposed By Canada, Lebanon is indeed mentioned among 19 other countries. However, the section that concerns Lebanon was last modified on December 27th, 2019, which dismisses the claim that any new sanctions were added recently.
- Moreover, under The Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List, which was last updated on January 29th, 2020, Lebanon is not included. That list currently includes 9 countries “subject to specific sanctions regulations made under the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (JVCFOA).”
Context:
The news that recently emerged about Canada’s sanctions against Lebanon says that the official website of Canadian International Affairs announced that “Lebanon was added to the list of countries subject to sanctions.”
It explains that Lebanon, upon this supposed development, now sits on the list alongside numerous countries, including Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and others.
The story, as reported by several Lebanese media websites, is concluded with this quote from the aforementioned website:
“Canada has implemented mechanisms to prevent the concealment and transfer of funds or assets used to finance terrorism. These allow specified measures to be applied to listed terrorist entities.”
In reality, Lebanon is indeed on the list of sanctioned countries. However, it was not added there recently; Lebanon has had sanctions imposed on it by Canada since 2006.
Moreover, the currently-active Canadian sanctions against Lebanon, as listed on the Canadian International Affairs website, are not broad or general but specific to the following:
- A prohibition on the export of arms and related material to any person in Lebanon; and
- A prohibition on the provision to any person in Lebanon of any technical assistance related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance or use of arms and related material.
These prohibitions are, the website indicates, connected to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which was intended to resolve the 2006 Lebanon War, and not to any recent developments.
On a side note, The961 reached out to the Canadian Embassy in Beirut for a comment but no one was available.
