Helsinki Commission Briefing to Examine Anti-Corruption Provisions of Global Magnitsky Act

WASHINGTON—The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today announced the following briefing:

COMBATING KLEPTOCRACY WITH THE GLOBAL MAGNITSKY ACT

Wednesday, December 13, 2017 3:00PM Russell Senate Office Building Room 385

Live Webcast: www.facebook.com/HelsinkiCommission

In 2016, Congress passed the Global Magnitsky Act, which seeks to prohibit the worst foreign human rights offenders and most corrupt officials operating anywhere in the world from entering into the United States and to block their U.S. assets. This law requires that each year on December 10 (Human Rights Day), or the first day Congress is in session thereafter, the President submit a report to Congress that includes a list of each foreign person sanctioned under the law during the preceding year. The anti-corruption provisions are of particular interest given how wide-ranging and unprecedented they are as a tool to combat kleptocracy. While combating corruption has traditionally focused on internal reforms and best practices, the Global Magnitsky Act enables the United States to target those individuals who steal from their populations and abuse the global financial system as well as those who facilitate their grand corruption. This briefing seeks to provide an overview of the scourge of corruption in the OSCE region and how the Global Magnitsky Act can be employed to combat it. It will include a discussion of the types of individuals and groups that should come under consideration for placement on the sanctions list and the ramifications of any such placement. The following panelists will offer brief remarks, followed by questions:

• Alex Johnson, Senior Policy Advisor for Europe and Eurasia, Open Society Policy Center
• Charles Davidson, Executive Director, Kleptocracy Initiative, Hudson Institute
• Rob Berschinski, Senior Vice President, Human Rights First