European Union Proceeds with the “Magnitsky Act”

On November 26, 2020, a new European Union human rights sanctions regime, the so-called Magnitsky Act, was agreed upon by foreign policy experts from the 27 EU member states and will be formally approved by ministers on December 7, 2020, or by written procedure on December 10, 2020. This would add an important tool for the EU to sanction human rights abuses and help the union become more cohesive on its human rights issues. 

In September 2020, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech to confirm the Act being processed in the EU: "The Member States are, at the moment, discussing the sanctions for those who are responsible for the violence after the elections that were neither free nor fair and where people peacefully took to the streets. What we’ve learned out of that, too, is that we need a mechanism to, if human rights are violated, to impose sanctions that is faster and, therefore, we will propose, as the Commission, a so-called Magnitsky Act to move all forward in this topic." 

Sergey Magnitsky was a Russian tax expert and whistleblower who claimed to have uncovered massive fraud involving corrupt officials. His revelations led to his arrest and imprisonment; in 2009 he died in prison at the age of 37 after being severely beaten by guards. Many also believe he was forced to endure extreme cold and water deprivation and denied family visits and treatment for his pancreatitis.

The original Magnitsky Act was signed by Barack Obama in 2012 in order to target Russian officials responsible for Magnitsky’s death. The Act prohibits these individuals from entering the US or using American bank services. In the beginning, the list of the barred Russian officials included 18 names. In revenge, Russia banned the adoption of Russian children by Americans and created its own blacklist of Americans not allowed in the country. In 2016, the Act was broadened to apply to any other country as well. The latest on the list is Saudi Arabia, where around 20 people are accused of having been involved in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashogg. 

Since then, other countries have followed with their own Magnitsky Acts, including the UK, Canada, and the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania -- all of which border Russia. However, the law has not been adopted by the EU itself yet, although it has received wide support. The eight members of the Nordic Council – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland – have said they would adopt their own act if the EU failed to agree. The proposal has been on the EU table before, in 2014 and 2017, and now the Act is on the table without the “Magnitsky” name. The Netherlands proposed to change the name in order to expand the law to target human rights abuses in the whole world, not only Russia.