On August 5, Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren reintroduced the Enhancing North Korea Humanitarian Assistance Act (S.5257). The bill's central provision would direct the Treasury Department to eliminate the pre-activity reporting requirement attached to the humanitarian general license for North Korea. A streamlined general license will protect the delivery of life-saving humanitarian cooperation. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which has advocated for this legislation since its first introduction in April 2020, welcomed the reintroduction.
Humanitarian cooperation is one of the few forms of contact that has continued between Americans and Koreans across seven decades of division. Agricultural exchange, medical partnership, and the ordinary work of sustain presence over decades has sustained relationships that few diplomatic processes have managed to build. That cooperation depends on Americans being able to travel, ship supplies, and work alongside Korean counterparts under the same policies other sanctioned contexts operate under.
“We’re grateful for Senators Markey and Warren’s reintroduction of this bill to protect humanitarian assistance to the people of North Korea. Humanitarian cooperation should not be used as a political tool or a bargaining chip. NGOs like AFSC should be allowed to carry out delivery of life-saving aid.” said Austin Headrick, Public Education and Advocacy Coordinator for Asia, AFSC
The bill removes several of those obstacles. It eliminates the unprecedented pre-reporting requirement that allows the U.S. Government to deny use of the humanitarian exemptions protected under a general license and requires the State and Treasury Departments to account to Congress for authorizations they delay or deny.
“The bill will provide much needed changes and oversight to the sanctions that are currently hindering humanitarian cooperation, which should be allowed under international law without the burdensome barriers created by the current general license. In an interconnected world, the health and wellbeing of people are tied to each other across national divides, and we must act now to remove barriers to cooperation on critical issues like health and food security.” said Jennifer Deibert, DPRK Program Director, AFSC
AFSC has worked on the Korean Peninsula since the Korean War and has long opposed sanction regimes that impose costs on civilian populations and obstruct humanitarian work.
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The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light within each person, we nurture the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. We work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace.