How to secure accountability for serious human rights violations?

by Geneva Accountability, Policy reports, Prevention, accountability and justice

How to secure accountability for serious human rights violations?

The report explores definitions of accountability, the complementarity between criminal and human rights accountability, victim-centred perspectives, as well as challenges and opportunities for securing greater accountability for human rights violations. It also addresses the implications of the emergence, development, and deployment of targeted human rights sanction regimes for international accountability efforts.

What we talk about when we talk about accountability

by Louis Mason, Universal Rights Group and Anna-Christina Schmidl, Universal Rights Group Geneva Accountability, Blog, Blog, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, International human rights institutions, mechanisms and processes, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

On 27 May 2010, addressing the Rome Statute Review Conference of the International Criminal Court in Kampala, Uganda, then-UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon heralded the ‘birth of a new Age of Accountability.’ More than a decade on, in the face of devastating conflicts and a global pandemic that has reinforced structural inequalities and led to a deterioration in the state of human …

Western States flex their ‘Magnitsky muscles’ to secure accountability for human rights abuses in China

by the URG team Accountability, Blog, Blog, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, HRC, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Magnitsky, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

With the return of the US to the UN stage, geopolitical tensions surrounding human rights, especially relating to alleged violations of human rights law by China, Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia, have resurfaced, dominating , for example, the recently concluded 46th session of the Human Rights Council . Central to the renewed tensions with China is deep US concern about the treatment of the country’s Muslim minority population …

EU adopts ‘Magnitsky’ style individual sanctions regime for grave human rights violations

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group Accountability, Blog, Blog, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice, Uncategorized

Today, 7 December 2020, the EU formally adopted a decision and regulation establishing its new ‘Magnitsky-style’ individual sanctions regime for serious human rights, only a couple days ahead of 10th December – UN Human Rights Day. The step, coming 77 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is expected to make a significant contribution towards global human …

EU Council paralysis over situation in Belarus demonstrates urgent need for EU Magnitsky act

by Louis Mason, Universal Rights Group Accountability, Blog, Blog, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, Justice, Magnitsky, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

As the human rights situation in Belarus has continued to deteriorate, efforts by the European Union to impose sanctions on Belarussian officials have stalled due to a failure to meet unanimity within the EU Council (i.e. the Union’s body comprised of heads of member States that is responsible for making unanimous decisions on its Common Foreign and Security Policy). This …

Rapid expansion of ‘Magnitsky-style’ human rights sanctions regimes underlines need for international coordination and norms

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group and Louis Mason, Universal Rights Group Accountability, Blog, Blog, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, Justice, Magnitsky, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

Although July and August are traditionally ‘slow’ months for both governments and the UN, this year they have coincided with an explosion of interest in, and movement towards, so-called ‘Magnitsky-style’ sanction regimes – geared towards holding those guilty of serious human rights violations to individual account. First out the block in early July was the UK, which on 6 July …

The UK’s new targeted sanctions regime ‘a powerful new tool with which to uphold and protect human rights’

by H.E. Rita French, International Ambassador for Human Rights of the United Kingdom Accountability, Blog, Blog, By invitation, By invitation, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, Justice, Magnitsky, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice

On 6 July, the UK launched a new ‘Magnitsky-style’ Global Human Rights (GHR) Sanctions Regime. The regime will be a powerful new tool to hold those involved in serious human rights violations and abuses to account. This marks the beginning of a new era for sanctions policy and will change the paradigm in which the UK engages on human rights. …

New UK Magnitsky-style human rights sanction regime ‘an important step forward for accountability’

by Louis Mason, Universal Rights Group Accountability, Blog, Blog, Democracy, In focus: democracy, Justice, Magnitsky, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice, Thematic human rights issues

Last Monday (6 July 2020), the UK became the latest country to join the growing ‘ Magnitsky momentum ’ by passing the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations , allowing the Government to sanction alleged perpetrators of the gravest forms of human rights violations. Introducing the Regulations in Parliament, the UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said : “Today this Government and this House sends a very clear message on …

Towards a new accountability? EU adds to growing momentum behind ‘Magnitsky acts’

by Louis Mason, Universal Rights Group Accountability, Beyond the Council, Beyond the Council, Blog, Blog, Contemporary and emerging human rights issues, Corruption, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Justice, Magnitsky, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice, Thematic human rights issues

On 9th December, the day before International Human Rights Day, EU foreign ministers took the historic decision to begin work on an EU-wide ‘Magnitsky act.’ The decision came just over a year after the Dutch Foreign Minister, Stef Blok, gave a landmark speech to his European counterparts in which he drew attention to the crucial importance of accountability for serious human …

Human rights mechanisms proving effective SDGs monitor.

UN human rights mechanisms proving effective SDGs monitor

by Steven L. B. Jensen, Researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights Accountability, Blog, Blog, By invitation, By invitation, Human rights implementation and impact, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, Implementation, Prevention, Prevention, accountability and justice, SDGs

The SDGs are mostly aligned with human rights objectives — to emphasise this, the UN human rights mechanisms are showing a willingness to hold states accountable to their SDG commitments. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are renewing the debate on the relationship between human rights and development. In 2005, Philip Alston famously described the relationship between the Millennium Development Goals …