Global Magnitsky: Sanctions experts discusses techniques for constraining bad guys

Washington/14.03.18/Turan:Top U.S. human rights advocates, and congressional staff on Tuesday discussed the tools they need to effectively petition the Trump administration to review and potentially designate individuals and organizations for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act.

Passed by Congress in 2016, the Global Magnitsky Act offers the United States a powerful and targeted tool to raise the cost of human rights abuses and corruption.

In fact, says Kyle Parker of Helsinki Commission, a bipartisan congressional agency that monitors human rights in the OSCE region, the Global Magnitsky Act (GloMag) "places the U.S. on the side of the individual victims."

Six other countries now also have a version of GloMag: Estonia, UK, Canada, Lithuania, Latvia, Gibraltar.

Yet, says Robert Berschinski of Human Rights First, a campaign group, it"s an extremely powerful tool that is hard to implement; it requires absolute clarity about what the person is being accused of.

The panel described how the U.S. government identifies, vets, and ultimately sanctions individuals. Speaking on preparing GloMag evidence for submission, Bill Browder, founder and director of Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, emphasizes the importance of the following:

• Name of the human rights abuser
• Date of birth
• Position in the government
• Category of violation under the law
• Role in a human rights abuse
• Specific details of a human rights abuse
• Documentary Evidence

For Berschinski, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor in the Obama administration, advocates also need to be sure to employ the other tools that bring public pressure to bear and grow political will: letter-writing, bringing on champions on the Capitol Hill, etc.

Publicizing the role of a person in human rights abuses can also have helpful effect - even if not sanctioned, according to sanctions experts.

In the meantime, Browder added, the advocates must be ready for "blowback" by those targeted that U.S. is "meddling" in their affairs: "When you"re fighting evil, evil fights back - especially well-funded evil."

In his speech Adam Smith of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, argued that the Global Magnitsky Act does not to simply "impose sanctions," but rather it's a tool to "deter and preempt bad behavior" of individuals that violate international human rights norms.