Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020

Catherine West Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2020 General Committees

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab)]

I am pleased to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Robertson.

The Labour party is pleased to support today’s statutory instrument. As we said in the Chamber, we welcome the introduction of the sanctions. As my hon. Friend the shadow Foreign Secretary recently made clear to the House, for too long there has been a sense of there being a haven for individuals who use torture, murder and corruption to achieve their goals, and seek a place to stash dirty money. Those days must end, and we have to stand against those individuals. These sanctions are a good first step. The Government have been right to make it clear that actions will have consequences.

As this is a cross-party matter, I place on record my own tribute to the family of Sergei Magnitsky. We all know that the family has waited far too long to see justice, and to see the Government and our allies take action against those who took Sergei Magnitsky’s life after he exposed the web of international corruption involving so many individuals and corporations. In doing what we can to punish those involved in Sergei Magnitsky’s death, and those involved in other appalling human rights abuses in other parts of the world, we have the chance to send a strong, principled message that Britain will not look the other way when offences are committed and that we will not allow perpetrators to use the UK as a base to profit from their criminality. That has to be the cornerstone of our foreign policy and our approach to the world, with our historic and ongoing international commitments.

That being said, we have concerns that the sanctions do not go far enough. While action has been taken against those involved in the murder of Sergei Magnitsky, it must be matched by action against Russian Government officials who oppress lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the Muslim community and other minorities, and who use chemical weapons on the streets of the UK. We also need real and tangible action against other regime officials in parts of the world where gross human rights abuses continue. As we know, the world is increasingly uncertain and unpredictable, and a scattergun approach to a sanctions regime does not meet the scale of the challenges.

I am also concerned that the sanctions may have been undermined by the short-sighted decision to resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia, only days after those involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi were identified by the sanctions regime. Mixed messages are not appropriate. As we all know, there are serious concerns about abuses of human rights in Saudi Arabia and in the execution of the war in neighbouring Yemen. We must be consistent in our approach. It cannot be right that we hold people to account one day and reward their state shortly afterwards. In the spirit of cross-party working, I hope that the Government will reconsider the decision to resume the sale of defence equipment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and, in general, that they will press for peace and a settlement in Yemen. People there have suffered for far too long.

Our allies in the US and Canada have introduced similar sanctions regimes, but have gone further and specifically covered corruption in the scope of their legislation. Corruption is a cancer that blights the most vulnerable people in the world. The UK must follow suit with Canada and the US and prevent London from remaining home to the ill-gotten gains of corruption. We have a unique chance to get that right, and I sincerely hope that the Government will expand the scope of the sanctions in the near future. I was pleased that the Minister mentioned that, and I hope for genuine action on that front. We all know that, as British MPs, the thing that we have the most control over is the question of tax status in the British overseas territories and Crown dependencies. While the matter is being debated, and there is a lot of cross-party support, steps have still not been taken to close the loopholes completely. I hope that we are taking a step in the direction of doing what we can closest to home on the question of corruption.

I must draw the Minister’s attention to one further serious concern: the possibility that the introduction of sanctions can make, and indeed has made, the work and life of in-country human rights defenders more precarious. After US sanctions on the Chechen President Kadyrov, public officials in Chechnya doubled down on their vilification of and attacks on human rights defenders in the territory. That is just one example. I would like the Minister to suggest how human rights defenders can be protected when sanctions are imposed. We need to be alive to the risk and do what we can to safeguard human rights defenders who take enormous risks to highlight human rights abuses and to improve their day-to-day lives.

I also draw the Minister’s attention to the procedure relating to the sanctions. I heard him say that there can be parliamentary questions and urgent questions. However, I was unsure whether he would outline the role of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs or the Joint Committee on Human Rights. I am happy, if he does not have an answer, for him to write to me on that point. It is important to have a cross-party commitment to human rights, and to enjoy that vision together on that particular point. There is nothing better than Select Committee proceedings for pursuing that.

Advocates have raised some concerns that sanctions may not work, particularly if they are unilateral rather than multilateral. I would be grateful to hear assurances from the Minister about how we will judge the effectiveness of the measures in changing the culture and climate around respect for human rights. To maximise the effectiveness of our sanctions regime we need to ensure that there is a procedure for Parliament—I have mentioned Select Committees—so that we can all have confidence that sanctions are transparent and thought out, and flexible enough to cover a range of issues.

The sanctions also need to be tied into the working of a wider human rights-led foreign policy. There are a range of existing measures that the UK can use in all regions to help to improve human rights. One is halting all military, security and policing transfers and training —I mentioned the Yemen example. Another is pushing for the imposition of multilateral targeted financial sanctions—against Myanmar, for example, where there could be a more comprehensive approach. Another is exercising universal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute. That would apply to Syria, for example. Another is pushing for a United Nations Security Council referral to the International Criminal Court, in the case of Sudan, among others.

The sanctions regime should be seen within the wider family of other measures by which people can be held to account. I am sure everyone present would like to see President Assad in front of the International Criminal Court at a future point. A full use of the suite of measures, as well as targeted sanctions, will allow the UK to be a serious player in human rights and to put it genuinely at the heart of foreign policy.

In conclusion, the Opposition welcome and approve of these sanctions, but we have made it clear that the Government need to go much further and wider to ensure that we achieve a robust and fit-for-purpose independent sanctions regime. A narrow focus on the human rights of individuals does not befit the challenges facing the world. Labour will support the Government in establishing a wider framework for these sanctions, and we will work with the Government in improving the regulations in the weeks and months ahead.