[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 3, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E151-E152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE GLOBAL MAGNITSKY HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNTABILITY ACT: HOLDING 
                        PERPETRATORS ACCOUNTABLE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 2015

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on Friday my colleague Mr. 
McGovern and I introduced the Global Magnitsky Human Rights 
Accountability Act.
   In November of 2012, almost every Member of this House voted for the 
forerunner of this legislation, the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law 
Accountability Act of 2012, which was included in Public Law 112-208. 
The 2012 law focused on perpetrators in a single country, Russia, and 
authorized and required the President to list and sanction individuals 
who the President determined was responsible for the detention, abuse, 
and death of Sergei Magnitsky, as well as other gross violations of 
human rights.
   This law sent a strong message of personal responsibility by 
targeting bad actors, publicly naming and shaming individuals who 
commit horrific abuses.
   My new bill builds on these provisions and expands the law globally. 
It requires the President to determine when foreign persons are 
complicit in egregious, internationally recognized human rights abuses 
or major acts of corruption; and then prohibits them from coming to the 
United States, remaining in the U.S. if they are already here, or 
owning property in our country. Further, my bill will require the 
administration to publish their names in an annual ``Global Magnitsky 
List'' unless there is a compelling, national security reason not to.
   Mr. Speaker, I think we can all agree that the U.S. should not 
provide refuge for those who commit human rights abuses. We can and 
should take away the privilege of U.S. visas that afford a measure of 
respectability as well as a quick exit for those who worry daily that 
they may be held accountable for their crimes against their countrymen. 
This bill will help bring human rights victims some justice, and deny 
perpetrators the respectability, mobility, and wealth they crave.
   Specifically, the bill I introduced Friday expands and strengthens 
the Magnitsky law in several key ways, and keeps some of its key 
provisions:
   Like the Magnitsky law, it authorizes and requires the President to 
sanction perpetrators of human rights violations, rather than simply 
allowing him to do so.
   The bill prioritizes violations against people who ``seek to expose 
illegal activity carried out by government officials; or to obtain, 
exercise, defend, or promote internationally recognized human rights 
and freedoms, such as the freedoms of religion, expression, 
association, and assembly, and the rights to a fair trial and 
democratic elections,'' but it also allows for the sanctioning of 
individuals for heinous human rights abuses against other victims.
   It requires the President to issue an annual report--on December 
10th, Human Rights Day--with the names of persons who have been 
sanctioned or were removed from sanctions over the previous year, 
providing Congress and the public with the opportunity to review the 
implementation and impact of the Magnitsky List and to discuss who is 
or should be on the List.
   If the President decides to include a sanctioned person in the 
classified section of the annual Global Magnitsky List for national 
security reasons, he will be required to list their country of 
citizenship and the number of people sanctioned from each country. This 
information will give us a better understanding of whether particular 
countries with many known perpetrators are being overlooked.
   As introduced, the Global Magnitsky Act will also require an 
independent audit by the Government Accountability Office to ensure the 
provisions are being implemented effectively, efficiently, and as 
Congress intended.
   I urge my colleagues to help us continue the legacy of Sergei 
Magnitsky--the brave man for whom this bill is named--and cosponsor 
this legislation. Murderers and torturers, and their money, are not 
welcome in this country.

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