According to diplomats, the system could soon be used, for example, in the Middle East and East Asia, where until now, EU countries have been trying in vain to agree on sanctions.
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Until now, the European bloc has had to make it difficult to approve a specific sanctions framework for each country in which it finds any human rights violations. The new regime, which is often compared to the so-called Magnitian law applied by the United States, is intended to make it easier and faster to punish individuals or private or state entities in any country.
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People responsible for torture or other human rights abuses “should not be able to go shopping in Europe,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, whose country chairs the EU meetings, ahead of the meeting.
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The new sanctions regime will cover, in particular, serious human rights violations, including genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and restrictions on freedom of assembly. In addition to these penalties, the EU can also prohibit its citizens or companies from cooperating with punished entities.
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Diplomats say the first sanctions could apply to countries in East Asia and the Middle East. For example, due to the complexity of existing rules requiring the adoption of a sanctions framework against specific states, the EU has failed to agree to sanction the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khasukji.
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According to diplomats, it will be possible to use the new system, for example, to punish the violation of the rights of people protesting in Hong Kong.
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The new mechanism is also intended to facilitate the coordination of EU and US sanctions, which have been using the law since 2012, named after Russia’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was critical of the Kremlin and died in prison in 2009.
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