EU COUNTRIES ON ALERT FOR SANCTIONS AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS AND CORRUPTION

European Commission Vice President Joseph Borell has announced sanctions to resolve serious cases of human rights abuses. The document, or the law that will be drawn up, will be similar to the so-called “Magnitsky Act” of the United States of America signed in 2012 by then US President Barack Obama.

What is a “Magnitsky Act”?

The Magnitsky Act was created to sanction Russian officials suspected of being involved and responsible for the death of Sergey Magnitsky, a tax adviser from Russia. Magnitski passed away on November 16, 2008, in a cell in Moscow’s Butirka Prison, while his investigation into alleged slander against senior Kremlin officials for stealing state money was ongoing. Magnitski had been held in prison for 358 days, and only nine days before the one-year statutory deadline had expired, so long as he was legally allowed to remain in custody, still without charge, he was found dead, with signs of physical violence. This was regarded as one of the worst human rights abuses in modern times.

The case raised all democratic states, and the United States has banned anyone who is thought to have any connection with Magnitsky’s death from entering the state. It has also banned them from using their banking system.

The European Commission has not provided much details on what the legal text will contain to sanction human rights abusers, but judging by the example of the “Magnitsky Act” which will be a guide or example to the EU legal text. Those who violate human rights will be subject to extremely stringent sanctions on European Union countries who are strong supporters of the idea, as the European Commission’s vice president said.

“The EU member states are well informed, they have shown support for this human rights and democracy action plan, which my team will develop over the next five years. We will present the proposal next year. We have a broad consensus among member states. You know that we would not be able to act if we did not have unity, “ said European Commission Vice President Joseph Borell.

Borell explained that they have methods to deal with security as well. EU countries have the practice of sanctioning Russian officials and other countries

Since the 1990s, European Union countries have adopted more sanctions against third countries over human rights abuses. For example, sanctions have been imposed on China over violence against protesters at the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Sanctions were also imposed on Belarus for the disappearance of a journalist and opposition activist in 2004. Sanctions were imposed on Iran in 2011 for repressing peaceful protesters and for abusing the death penalty. Sanctions were also imposed on Burundi, which used excessive violence against protesters in 2015. Sanctions have also been imposed on Venezuela, which, according to the EU, has repressed both the civil sector and democratic opposition in 2017. The most common sanctions used against human rights abusers are bans on entry into EU countries, bans on arms sales and more. The individuals to whom sanctions are usually
imposed are ministers, soldiers but police officers, secret service agents, prosecutors and election officials. In addition to sanctions, the EU may also ban development projects for state aid.

Five countries, such as Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, the United Kingdom and Latvia, have adopted similar sanctions on human rights abusers under the US model (the Magnitsky Act). Canada’s law provided for sanctions on officials of various states, while the Baltic states imposed sanctions only on Russian officials. The United Kingdom did not publish the names of those sanctioned.

Although the “Magnitsky Act” was a document designed solely to sanction human rights abusers and corruption, it is unknown whether the European Union will follow the same pattern, or focus only on human rights abusers.