Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Critical mass of EU states back new human rights sanctions

  • Stef Blok (l) with Heiko Maass (r) at the EU Council - Blok to table proposal in Brussels next month (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

Enough EU states want to create a new human rights sanctions regime for the Netherlands to table a formal proposal next month.

The visa bans and asset freezes would target people guilty of "gross human rights violations worldwide," the German foreign ministry said on Tuesday (27 November).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Bill Browder (l) with Stef Blok in The Hague last week - removing Sergei Magnitsky's name was "appeasement", Browder said (Photo: government.nl)

These could include people such as the 18 or more Saudi Arabians deemed guilty of recently murdering a journalist, France has indicated.

The German and French support for what the Dutch are calling an "EU human rights sanctions regime", comes after The Netherlands held talks in The Hague with diplomats from the 27 other EU capitals on the idea last week.

"A number of those present indicated their willingness to work further on the initiative ... We now intend to pursue this proactively in the framework of the [EU] Council," the Dutch foreign ministry said in a report sent to Dutch MPs on Monday.

The Dutch foreign minister, Stef Blok, will "draw attention to this initiative" when he meets his EU counterparts in Brussels on 10 December "with a view to reaching agreement on a mandate for the EEAS to develop such a sanctions regime," the ministry added, referring to the European External Action Service (EEAS).

The EU already has a mixed bag of national-level sanctions in place, some of them for human rights abuses, as on Myanmar, others due to warmongering, as on Russia.

But the new regime would designate individual abusers paying no heed to where they came from.

The bans and freezes would also snap into place more quickly than national-level measures, but with full rights to legal redress for those named.

Germany said it was "working with the Netherlands" on the project after Blok met German foreign minister Heiko Maas in Berlin on Tuesday.

The French foreign ministry voiced its support more quietly. It was "considering" the proposal "with its European partners", it said last week.

"A number of member states have as yet expressed no view," the Dutch report noted.

But "many of those present [at the 20 November meeting] endorsed" the idea that special EU sanctions were needed if abusers were outside the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague and if a "national prosecution fails to materialise".

The new regime would "send a political message" - that abusers would face "severe penalties" instead of enjoying "impunity", the Dutch report added.

The initiative is modelled on so-called 'Magnitsky Acts', first adopted in the US and named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian anti-corruption activist.

The US and Canada, who sent delegates to the EU talks in The Hague, have designated those Russian officials who hounded Magnitsky to death.

But their acts are global in scope, also designating abusers from allied states, such as Israel and Turkey, as well as Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The Dutch prefer to remove Magnitsky's name and, by association, Russian leader Vladimir Putin's face, from the EU measure.

"A general, descriptive name for the regime, such as 'EU human rights sanctions regime' was endorsed by the participants on account of its global scope," the Dutch report to parliament said.

The idea is that this will help the EU sanctions, which require unanimity to go ahead, to fly with Russia-friendly states, such as Austria, Cyprus, Hungary, and Italy.

The German foreign ministry, following Tuesday's Blok-Maas meeting, also spoke of the need for a new "European Ostpolitik" - using a German term from the 1960s for building better ties with the then Soviet Bloc.

But Bill Browder, Magnitsky's former employer, whose activism prompted the original US legislation, challenged the Dutch foreign ministry's account.

A member of one of the NGOs invited to last week's EU talks in The Hague told Browder "that several [EU] member states supported the name 'Magnitsky' and nobody opposed it".

The Dutch approach was "a cowardly appeasement to Putin," Browder told EUobserver.

Russia's aggressive behaviour in Europe, such as its attack on the Ukrainian navy in the Azov Sea on Sunday, showed the need to publicly confront Russian abusers, he added.

"Every time that Putin commits a new atrocity, it breathes new life into the Magnitsky sanctions campaign. I'm sure his recent actions in Ukraine will very much help getting a European Magnitsky Act passed," Browder said.

New EU human rights sanctions to focus on Africa

A new EU sanctions regime for human rights abusers ought to focus on the kinds of crimes most readily associated with African conflicts, the Dutch foreign minister has indicated.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  2. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  3. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  4. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  5. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  6. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  7. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route
  8. 2024: A Space Odyssey — why the galaxy needs regulating

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us