Magnitsky Act

A new piece of legislation was passed by Congress recently called the Magnitsky Act that will normalize trade with Russia while condemning human rights violations in the Russian Federation. This act was passed without any problems (a vote of 365 to 43) and signals the US’s continued stance on punishing other countries that partake in human right’s abuse while still moving forward into a new era of trade with Russia. To really understand what this act means though it’s important to understand its predecessor, the Jackson-Vanik Act.

            

The idea behind the Jackson-Vanik Act was essentially the same as the Magnitsky Act, in that it acted as a mechanism to punish countries that violated human rights. Countries, like Russia, that restricted emigration were not given trade benefits with the US. Because of this act Russia began allowing certain levels of emigration so that they could trade with the US. This was seen as a human rights victory and Russia was able to trade with the US. Arguably a win-win situation for everyone involved.

            

Fast forward to the recent introduction into the WTO and we run into a problem with the Jackson-Vanik Act however. It’s against the bylaws of the WTO to have restrictions against fellow WTO members and if the Jackson-Vanik Act was not repelled Russia would be able to deny certain privileges to American firms and the same American companies would be unable to use WTO mechanisms for conflict resolution in Russia. Obviously this was a situation that the US could not allow since we’re all about having the maximum power of trade anywhere in the globe we can manage it. And why shouldn’t we be like that? It’s smart business sense. But anyway…

            

Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who reported a $230 million theft from the government by Russian police officers, Russian tax officials and organized criminals. Clearly the man had some balls, because he must have known that he was going to get thrown in jail, which he did, by the police officers he testified against. It was claimed that Magnitsky himself was responsible for the theft, and while he was detained in prison awaiting trail his health began to fail, and it is claimed (though not confirmed) that while he lay in the prison hospital he was handcuffed to his bed, beaten by several guards, and left to die. Of course, he died before every receiving his trial, but with the state of the Russian legal system, it’s unlikely he would have received a trail with an outcome more favorable than what he received anyway.

            

This is the set of circumstances that led to the Magnitsky Act.

            

The US decided to pass this new act, named after Sergei Magnitsky, that would repeal the old Jackson-Vanik Act, normalizing trade between the US and Russia as well as continuing to have some sort of mechanism to punish Russian human rights violations.

            

So what is the Magnitsky Act? Well, it would deny US visas to the men involved in the detainment and death of Sergei Magnitsky, none of whom stood trail after his death, as well as freeze all their assets in the US. Along with this, all future Russian officials who violate human rights would also be denied visas and be unable to have assets in the US. This would continue to encourage Russian officials to take human rights seriously as well as meet WTO regulations for fair trade among members. This seems like a great solution to the problem of the Jackson-Vanik Act, and some European countries are considering enacting similar bills, but the Kremlin is far from pleased about this development.

            

The Kremlin sees it as a direct attack on Russian citizens and has threatened to respond in kind. They have said that they could similar ban certain US citizens from the Russian Federation, as well as freezing assets inside the RF. They also point out that America has far from a spotless record on human rights and they seem to feel that the pot is calling the kettle black.

            

I don’t think that many Americans would be overly upset if Russia enacted similar laws against the US, but it’s an interesting idea. Personally, I think that the Magnitsky Act seems like a good piece of legislation, and that the Kremlin is upset simple because it may actual force them to conduct themselves in a manner more in accordance with the international views on human rights. At the same time, I’m not sure what to think about Russia saying that they will do the same thing to the US. Maybe it’s a good thing to have the international community holding each other responsible in this manner, but I fear that this sort of tit-for-tat reactionism might create gridlock in international cooperation.

            

Regardless, there are some interesting developments going on between Russia and the US and I think this is something worth paying attention to if you have any interest in international relations or human rights.

           

As always, feel free to comment, agree, disagree or whatever else.

Much love, Tyler