Ending Impunity for Violators of Human Rights – The Magnitsky Acts: Magnitsky Act and Accountability: Case Studies in Targeted Sanctions

The Diplomacy Training Program (DTP) and the Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) are organising a special series of webinars to build awareness of human rights. This webinar is the second in a series to introduce participants to the Magnitsky Acts, and their potential to end the impunity of those responsible for committing human rights violations, to deter violators, to offer a sense of justice to victims and their families, and to be a tool for campaigners.

This webinar will focus on cases where Magnitsky legislation in different jurisdictions has been used to target individuals implicated in human rights abuses and corruption, with a special emphasis on examples from Asia. It will highlight the potential of using Magnitsky legislation in human rights advocacy strategies to seek justice and accountability across borders, detailing the real-world impacts of sanctions on perpetrators.

Speakers

Phil Robertson is Director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA), with 30 years of experience in human rights, labor rights, trafficking, migration, and supply chain monitoring. Fluent in Thai and Lao, he collaborates with UN agencies, NGOs, labor unions, and governments. Phil spent 15 years as Deputy Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, covering Southeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula. He previously led the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking and worked for the Solidarity Center, AFL-CIO. Phil began his career at the US Congress and holds an M.A. from Johns Hopkins SAIS.

Elizabeth Wood is the CEO of Capital Punishment Justice Project, an Australian-based NGO that stands for a world without the death penalty or other forms of state-sanctioned killing. CPJP’s work includes advocating for governments with Magnitsky-style sanctions laws to utilise these schemes to achieve accountability for extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

Anton Moiseienko is a Senior Lecturer and Research Director at the Australian National University in the Faculty of Law. He focuses on financial crime, including money laundering, terrorist financing, and the legal and policy aspects of economic sanctions. Anton has been published in many leading journals, and has given testimony to a number of Australian and International policy committees to advise on policy responses to global financial crime.

Moderator

Mubashar Hasan is an academic and human rights advocate who works for both DTP and STARTTS. He researches on transnational repression, authoritarianism and human rights violations in Asia. His forthcoming co-edited book The Long Reach of the Strong Arm: The Transnational Repression of Dissents in Exile is set to be published from Palgrave Macmillan in 2025.