Australia urged to pass Magnitsky human rights law or risk becoming magnet for dirt money

US financier Bill Browder, who spearheaded the United States' Magnitsky Act, an act that targets human rights violators around the world told Australia that it should bring in similar legislation. Browder said that if Australia does not enact similar legislation then it risks becoming 'a magnet for dirty money'.

Sanctions for human rights violators

The Magnitsky act involved targeted sanctions against human rights violators from abusers to kleptocrats. The law is named after Sergei Magnitsky who in 2008 discovered a fraud worth $230 million committed by Russian government officials. After testifying against these officials, Magnitsky was arrested and tortured. He died in jail and was later put on trial after his death.

In a report submitted by Browder, he advised the Australian parliamentary inquiry that legal recompense against human rights abusers had to be sought internationally. According to his report, Browder claimed that human rights abusers keep their money in the west where property rights and rule of law exists and is upheld. This was the thought process behind the Magnitsky Act that freezes assets and bans visas of human rights violators.

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The US passed the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Act in 2012 and the Act was later expanded upon in 2016. With the help of the Act, the US has imposed sanctions on almost 100 individuals and over 100 entities from countries like South Sudan, Uganda, Iraq and Cambodia according to his report.

The reports further indicated that Browder told the joint standing committee that Australia, as a champion of human rights and anti-corruption in the Asia-Pacific should also consider enacting such a law.

In December last year, Australia's Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, reportedly requested the committee to inquire into the possibility of introducing legislation that implemented visa and property-related sanctions of individuals that were involved in human rights violations or those who in any way assisted in the violation of human rights.

(Image Credit: @Billbrowder/Twitter)

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(with inputs from agencies)