Fighting back: EU sanctions for human rights violations and corruption
Today, on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Human Rights Declaration, the European Union foreign ministers have given their unanimous support to the motion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands on introducing the EU Global Human Rights Sanction Regime. Over the next few months, the European External Action Service, headed by the High Representative Federica Mogherini, will develop a framework for the proposed regime.
Possible sanctions could include, for example, asset freezes and travel bans on individuals and entities who are known to have committed serious human rights violations.
Human rights inevitably suffer in countries where corruption is rampant. In the United States and Canada, human rights and anti-corruption sanctions legislation has been successfully used to fight impunity for grave human rights and corruption crimes in countries such as Myanmar and Saudi Arabia. We will be asking the EU to follow suit and to adopt such a two-fold strategy, aimed at combating both human rights abuses and corruption.
Last week, with 90 like-minded civil society organisations, we urged EU foreign ministers to honour the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by supporting the so-called Dutch proposal.
Ahead of today’s meeting, Carl Dolan, Director of Transparency International EU, explained why the EU needs such a sanctions regime:
Seen from the disruption and uncertainty of 2018, both the Declaration and UNCAC (UN Convention Against Corruption) now seem quaint, almost archaic, like fragments of a gnostic gospel. The sentiments they express and the institutions they underpin have received a hell of a battering in recent years. It is not just that human rights abuses are on the rise, but that states no longer feel the need to even pay lip service to these values. Witness this year the brazen state-sponsored murders, or attempted murders, of political dissidents by the petro-kleptocracies Russia and Saudi Arabia, or the use of bribery by authoritarian regimes such as Azerbaijan to subvert the work of the Council of Europe, whose role it is to monitor and censure human rights abuses.
It’s clear that these regimes have been emboldened by an increasingly fragmented world order and the seeming impotence of the international organisations like the UN and EU to tackle impunity for high-level corruption. Which is why developments at Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels is so timely and on point. Conscious that the meeting falls on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration, the Dutch government has decided to propose that the EU should overhaul its sanctions regime to allow for targeted sanctions of individuals and entities involved in serious corruption crimes and human rights abuses. Such sanctions programmes have already been enacted in a number of countries, notably the US and Canada, and typically hit the corrupt where it hurts most — confiscating their assets (money in bank accounts, high-end property) and denying them and their families easy international travel through visa bans. A recent report has shown how the EU can follow suit.
Given that Europe is a favoured destination for many kleptocrats and corrupt officials from around the world, getting the EU on board with this kind of sanctions regime could be a powerful deterrent to would-be kleptocrats, and give the EU the tools to deal with nascent authoritarianism around the world.
The full blog post is available from Transparency International EU.
