After the Australian Senate passed the Magnitsky Act with unanimous support on Wednesday, human rights violators, corrupt officials and cyber hackers have been banned from visiting Australia and are in the process of spending profits not available in Australia.
The bill, entitled Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (Thematic Sanctions) Bill 2021, will pass the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament today.
Part of this bill is based on the US Magnitsky Act, named after lawyer Sergei Magnitsky for exposing the massive tax evasion committed by Russian authorities. He was later imprisoned, tortured and died in 2009.
Unlike normal sanctions, the Magnitsky Act targets individual human rights abusers and may freeze assets abroad. The target of the bill could be a cyber hacker, a corrupt general, a fellow Russian President Vladimir Putin, or a Chinese Communist Party official responsible for serious human rights atrocities.
In the current geopolitical environment, Liberal Senator James Patterson, who called for passage in the Senate and was one of the early supporters of the bill, said the bill was “an important tool in Australia’s foreign policy and malicious. It is intended for those responsible for action. “
“As the global Magnitsky movement shows, depriving them of their wealth and travel ability from human rights abuses can hit them where it hurts,” Patterson said. “Magnitsky sanctions ensure that responsible persons cannot find a safe haven for themselves or Australian property.”
Patterson also emphasized “Australia’s unique innovation” in this version of the Magnitsky Act.
“For the first time in the world, our actions target us not only those who abuse human rights or engage in serious corruption, but also those who threaten our national interests in the cyber realm. I will prepare it, “he said. “This will be an increasingly important tool to help shape and deter enemies.”
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the bill is timely for Australia, as relatively attractive economies are increasingly participating in the “Magnitsky movement.”
“This will allow us to act more quickly with like-minded sanctions partners in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and other key national interests,” Payne said in his second reading when he introduced the bill. rice field. November 24th.
According to the United States, more than 20 countries have introduced similar laws to individuals and groups since the United States first passed the law. Website Of the Australian Parliament.
The bill has bipartisan support in the Senate.
“In a modern administration run by the remains of mankind, they torture, imprison, kill, destroy spirits, cause fear, rob hope and mankind, and put them in camps. “Kimberly Labor Senator Kitcheng said in the Senate.
“If you understand the beauty of being human, alive and energetic, and if you believe in human dignity, well, you can’t really allow such evil to continue invincible.”
However, labor foreign affairs spokesman Penny Wong has criticized the government for delaying the passage of the bill.
“We sent a disappointing message that the Morrison administration delayed the introduction of Magnitsky sanctions,” Wong told the Senate.
“Australia is not committed and does not take human rights abuses seriously.”
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