Security Council 1718 Sanctions Committee Approves Implementation Assistance Notice on Humanitarian Exemption for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

On 6 August 2018, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) adopted its seventh implementation assistance notice, entitled “Guidelines for Obtaining Exemptions to Deliver Humanitarian Assistance to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”.  The implementation assistance notice provides additional guidance on the humanitarian exemption mechanism and is available on the Committee’s website in all official languages of the United Nations (https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/sanctions/1718/implementation-notices).

The Committee adopted the implementation assistance notice to assist Member States and international and non‑governmental organizations carrying out humanitarian assistance activities in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for the benefit of the civilian population of that country and to improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance to that country.  The Committee’s implementation assistance notice is intended to provide a clear explanation of its comprehensive humanitarian exemption mechanism, as authorized in paragraph 25 of Security Council resolution 2397 (2017), by offering guidance and recommendations on how to submit humanitarian exemption requests to the Committee in accordance with the relevant resolutions.

Through the creation of a comprehensive humanitarian exemption mechanism, as outlined in the implementation assistance notice, the Committee may, on a case‑by‑case basis, exempt any activity from the measures imposed by these resolutions if the Committee determines that such an exemption is necessary to facilitate the work of such organizations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or for any other purpose consistent with the objectives of these resolutions.  The implementation assistance notice provides a format for these humanitarian exemption requests and inter alia clarifies the channels through which such requests can be submitted to the Committee for approval, and contains guidance on the timing and consolidation of planned shipments of humanitarian goods.  The implementation assistance notice reminds that all international or non‑governmental organizations requesting exemptions from the Committee must fully observe relevant regulatory and licensing requirements of Member States that have jurisdiction over all aspects of the proposed transactions and involved parties.