Australia imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on Afghanistan's minister of virtue and vice, minister of higher education, minister of justice and chief justice for alleged complicity in oppressing women and girls as well as minority groups in Afghanistan, among other offenses, according to a statement Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade released on Dec. 6. The department added that Australia imposed the sanctions through a new "autonomous sanctions framework" it introduced earlier in December, which also includes an arms embargo and prohibitions on the provision of "related services and activities" to Afghanistan.