Monday, February 2, 2015

Subject: FW: US Congress Introduces Ground-breaking Global Magnitsky Human Rights Bill To Fight Impunity All Over the World

Subject: FW: US Congress Introduces Ground-breaking Global Magnitsky Human Rights Bill To Fight Impunity All Over the World
Reply-To: members_nujp@googlegroups.com


I thought this might be of interest. If this passes, I wonder if there aren’t some cases int eh Philippines it could be applied to.
Regards,
 
Elisabeth Witchel
SKYPE ewitchel330  FB Elisabeth Witchel
@goodwitch917
Tel: +44 (0)75 401 33761
 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Katie Fisher" [katie.fisher@hermitagefund.com]
Sent: 02/02/2015 07:56 GMT
To: William Browder
Subject: US Congress Introduces Ground-breaking Global Magnitsky Human
Rights Bill To Fight Impunity All Over the World


Press Release

For Immediate Distribution



US Congress Introduces Ground-breaking Global Magnitsky Human Rights Bill
To Fight Impunity All Over the World



2 February 2015 – Both chambers of the US Congress have introduced the
Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability bill, a deterrent for
kleptocrats and human rights abusers around the world. The new bill expands
and globalizes the Magnitsky Act of 2012, which created targeted visa and
financial sanctions on corrupt officials and human rights violators in
Russia.



“This is a poignant legacy for Sergei Magnitsky, a man who gave his life
for his ideals, to have his name on a piece of legislation which will fight
impunity of human rights abusers and corrupt officials around the world,”
said William Browder, leader of the global Magnitsky justice movement.



The Global Magnitsky Bill has been introduced in the House of
Representatives by Chris Smith, Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission
(http://www.csce.gov/), and Jim McGovern, Co-Chairman of the Tom Lantos
Human Rights Commission (http://tlhrc.house.gov/),  and in the Senate by
U.S. Senators John McCain and Ben Cardin, with co-sponsors U.S. Senators
Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Marco
Rubio (R-Fla.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Richard
Blumenthal (D-Conn.) (
http://www.cardin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/cardin-mccain-reintroduce-global-magnitsky-human-rights-accountability-act
).



The House version of the Global Magnitsky Bill (H.R. 624) contains stronger
language, in particular, directing rather than permitting the U.S.
President to impose sanctions on kleptocrats and gross human rights
violators. It also assigns the U.S. Comptroller General to examine and
report on the implementation of the legislation. The House version of the
Global Magnitsky Bill also requires the sanctions list to be published
annually on 10 December, which marks the Human Rights Day in commemoration
of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1948.



The previous Magnitsky Act of 2012 was a precedent setting piece of
legislation requiring the U.S. government to confront impunity, and create
consequences for those involved in human rights atrocities in Russia,
including the torture and killing of Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergei
Magnitsky, and the $230 million corruption he had uncovered. The targeted
sanctions included visa bans and asset freezing, as well as a mechanism
through which the sanctioned individuals are publicly named, creating a
real consequence for human rights abusers in Russia.



The Global Magnitsky Bill extends these tools to foreign government
officials and their senior associates responsible for or complicit in
ordering, controlling or directing “acts of significant corruption,
…bribery, or transfer of the proceeds of corruption to foreign
jurisdictions” and those who “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided
financial, material, or technological support” for such activities.



The genesis of the 2012 Magnitsky Act and the extraordinary story of Sergei
Magnitsky, whose name now lives in the U.S. law, are featured in the
explosive new book by William Browder, “Red Notice,” which will be
published on 3 February 2015.



U.S. Senator McCain said ahead of the book launch this week:



“In ‘Red Notice’, Bill Browder tells the harrowing and inspiring story of
how his fight for justice in Russia made him an unlikely international
human rights leader and Vladimir Putin's number-one enemy.”



To learn more about ‘Red Notice,’ visit the book website:
http://billbrowder.com



For more information, please contact:



Magnitsky Justice Campaign

+44 2074401777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

website: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI

Twitter: @KatieFisher__

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