Posts Tagged ‘The bill’
OK of Russian trade bill is victory for human rights activist
Los Angeles Times. The provision in a measure approved by Congress punishes human rights abusers, including those involved in the death of a Russian lawyer.
By Don Lee, Los Angeles Times
December 6, 2012, 4:59 p.m.
WASHINGTON — After months of delays, U.S. lawmakers finally passed a trade bill with Russia. And perhaps no one was as deeply moved as investor William Browder.
His emotions had nothing to do with the commercial implications of the legislation, which normalizes trade relations with Russia and should give a boost to big American exporters such as Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co.
Instead, Browder’s focus was entirely on a provision that would punish Russians accused of human rights abuses, specifically those involved in the 2009 death of his onetime Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.
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Kerry delays action on Magnitsky bill
Foreign Policy
Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, April 24, 2012 – 1:00 PM
A bill to sanction Russian human rights violators will not be taken up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week after the Obama administration urged Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) to keep it off the committee’s agenda, The Cable has learned.
Last month, Kerry indicated that the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011 would be brought up for a vote at the April 26 SFRC business meeting and he also endorsed the idea of combining the Magnitsky bill with a bill to grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status and repeal the 1974 Jackson-Vanik law. “In good faith, we will move as rapidly as we can, hopefully the minute we’re back, but certainly shortly thereafter,” Kerry said March 27, just before the last Senate recess.
But after what several Senate aides described as intense lobbying from top Obama administration officials, including Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, Kerry decided not to put the bill on the agenda of the next business meeting, delaying consideration of the bill until May at the earliest, after the visit to the U.S. of Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin.
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Russia Ambassador warns Congress over human rights bill
By Erik Wasson – 04/23/12
Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak on Monday warned Congress that there would be “significant reaction” in Moscow if members try to attach a human rights measure to one granting permanent normal trade relations to his country.
Kislyak told reporters that passage of the bill could “impair the ability” of the U.S. and Russia to work together.
Russia wants Congress to grant it permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) and the White House is pushing Congress to do so before Russia joins the World Trade Organization this year.
At this point, Russia will join the WTO regardless of what Congress does and if Congress does not act U.S. exporters to Russia will be hurt. Kislyak made clear Russia will deny new lower tariffs to U.S. companies if Congress does not grant PNTR, as it would be entitled to do under WTO rules.
Some in Congress want to use the occasion to press Russia on human rights and democratization, however.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) have introduced a bill that specifically addresses the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblower working for a London investment firm who died in suspicious circumstances while imprisoned by Russian authorities in November 2009.
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GOP, Dems team up on bill sanctioning Russia for human-rights abuses
The Hill
by Pete Kasperowicz
04/23/12
Several high-profile Republicans and Democrats in the House have joined forces to sponsor legislation that would sanction Russian officials who played a role in the death of a Russian lawyer. That lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, accused several people in the Russian government of tax fraud, and was beaten to death in a Moscow prison in 2009.
Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) introduced the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act last week, along with Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), and Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.).
The bill, H.R. 4405, is the latest example of Congress’s anger over the death of Magnitsky, who was found by a Russian panel to have been arrested illegally, denied access to courts, investigated by the same people he accused of stealing millions of dollars and denied access to doctors before he died. The bill accuses Russia of exhibiting a pattern of denying basic human rights and prosecutorial fairness.
Sergei Magnitsky’s experience, while particularly illustrative of the negative effects of official corruption on the rights of an individual citizen, appears to be emblematic of a broader pattern of disregard for the numerous domestic and international human-rights commitments of the Russian Federation and impunity for those who violate basic human rights and freedoms, the resolution reads.
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