On November 18, 2021, Australian Senator Kimberley Kitching announced that she would be nominating Bill Browder for Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the Global Magnitsky campaign and called upon others to support the nomination. The announcement was made during the Magnitsky Awards in London, U.K. Bill Browder, a U.S. born financier, is the man behind the Magnitsky laws, laws enabling governments to impose targeted sanctions on human rights offenders by freezing their assets and banning their entry into certain countries. Such sanctions are imposed on individuals or corporate entities rather than entire States.
Browder’s work on the initiative is carried out in the memory of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax advisor who uncovered tax fraud perpetrated on a vast-scale and implicating Russian officials. In 2008, Magnitsky was imprisoned in Russia and later died in jail as a result of the mistreatment he suffered there.
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 27: William Browder, chief executive officer of Hermitage Capital Management, ... [+]
The first ever Magnitsky Act was enacted by the Obama Administration, authorizing the U.S. Government to sanction human rights offenders. Among others, in August 2018, the Trump Administration imposed such sanctions on several members of the Burmese military, Border Guard Police commanders, and two Burmese military units for their involvement in genocidal atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, Myanmar.
However, the initiative did not end there. Since then, several other states have introduced some legislative provisions accommodating similar sanctions. Currently, the number stands at 34 countries with several others working on such provisions at the moment. Most recently, on December 2, 2021, Australia’s Parliament expanded its autonomous sanctions introducing the Autonomous Sanctions (Magnitsky-style and Other Thematic Sanctions) Amendment Bill 2021, and the Autonomous Sanctions (Magnitsky-style and Other Thematic Sanctions) Amendment Regulations 2021. As Senator the Hon Marise Payne said announcing the reforms, “[the new provisions] will enable Australia to sanction individuals and entities responsible for, or complicit in, egregious conduct, including malicious cyber activity, serious human rights abuses and violations, and serious corruption. Australian governments will be able to establish further thematic sanctions regulations in the future, including in relation to serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
The domestic and international initiatives introducing the Magnitsky laws on targeted sanctions are a welcome response where other attempts at justice are not available for whatever reason. In a world where justice is sought by many but achieved by very few, Magnitsky laws and their targeted sanctions are a breath of fresh air. They have the possibility of triggering much needed change. Other States should follow the lead and ensure that targeted sanctions are available to address some of the most egregious atrocities.
