Magnitsky sanctions ‘send message…no matter where they are’

Jurisdictions that have imposed ‘Magnitsky’ sanctions for human rights abuses are ‘missing significant opportunities to ensure greater impact by multilateralizing [i.e., jointly designating] targets.’

So says a recent report on the subject published by a consortium of human rights organisations including the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Open Society Foundations, Redress, and Human Rights First.

Other headline findings of the report, which focused on the US, Canada, European Union and United Kingdom are that:

• The jurisdictions have focused disproportionately little attention on certain regions of the world, in particular South and Central Asia, despite a few impactful examples of sanctions in the region.
• The jurisdictions have overlooked certain types of human rights abuses that cause grave injury and harm, such as human trafficking.
• The jurisdictions rarely, if ever, explicitly recognised certain marginalised and vulnerable victim groups through these sanctions.

The report also criticises the fact that sanctions are seldom imposed ‘in countries that are considered allies.

‘Canada and the EU have never imposed sanctions in countries considered allies. The U.S. has only done so in five percent of cases, such as Slovak Marian Kocner who was charged in the killing of journalist Jan Kuciak and Latvian Aivars Lembergs for corruption. The UK has only done so in two percent of cases, all in Pakistan.’

Click here to download the report.