Posts Tagged ‘the foundry’
President Obama Should Uphold the Magnitsky Act’s Legislative Intent
The Foundry – Heritage Foundation
Next week, the Obama Administration faces an important foreign policy decision in U.S. relations with Russia—how to champion human rights and the rule of law. The State Department is trying to avoid a gust of chilling wind from Moscow.
However, the last thing the Administration should do is show weakness to Moscow or subvert the will of Congress as stipulated in the recent Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 signed by President Obama last December.
Under the Magnitsky Act, the State Department is supposed to submit a list of corrupt Russian officials who are gross violators of human rights. The U.S. will then ban these violators’ travel to the U.S. and freeze any assets they hold in American banks. The State Department has until April 13 to compile such a list for implementation.
The Magnitsky Act’s intent is to name and shame the corrupt officials responsible for whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky’s brutal death in 2009 and send a message that the U.S. takes human rights violations in Russia seriously.
However, one of the law’s co-sponsors doubts Obama’s resolve to implement the list. Representative Jim McGovern (D–MA) created his own list of officials as he fears for how the Magnitsky Act will be enforced and whether the Administration’s list will have enough teeth. McGovern’s list includes 280 names, including Yuri Chaika, the Prosecutor General of Russia who closed the investigation into Magintsky’s death; the head of the Russian Investigative Committee; and numerous secret policy and law enforcement officials involved in this and other cases.
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Russian “Grandma of Human Rights” Nominated for Nobel Prize
This week, Senator Benjamin Cardin (D–MD) nominated the “grandma” of the Russian human rights movement, Lyudmila Alekseeva, for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
Cardin’s nomination of the veteran of the dissident movement affirms the United States’ support for human rights activists in Russia and gives this “peacemaker” the recognition she deserves.
Alekseeva was born in 1927 in the Crimea and studied history at the prestigious Moscow State University. During her time there, Alekseeva fell in with the dissident crowd. By the 1960s, she protested the Communist Party’s crackdown on dissident writers and the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. She continued to work for human rights in the Soviet Union and in 1976 was one of the founding members of the Moscow Helsinki Group.
The group, named after its support of the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which the Soviet Union signed, was founded in the apartment of dissident physicist and human rights leader Andrei Sakharov.
Only a year after she helped found the group, Alekseeva, like many other dissidents, was exiled from the USSR. She moved to the U.S. and kept up her work promoting human rights. She was frequently published and often appeared on Radio Liberty and Voice of America, U.S. government-funded stations that broadcasted to the Soviet Union.
Two years after the fall of communism, Alekseeva returned to Russia and in 1996 became chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO).
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Magnitsky Act Promises to Punish Human Rights Abuse, Open Trade
Last Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that included language—called the Magnitsky Act—that for the first time punishes Russian officials implicated in serious human rights abuses.
The bill was passed by an overwhelming majority—365 to 43—demonstrating strong bipartisan support. The Senate will vote on the Magnitsky Act and the underlying bill during the lame-duck session after the Thanksgiving recess.
The Magnitsky Act is named after the late Moscow lawyer, accountant, and whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who in 2009 accused Russian police and tax officials of embezzling $230 million from the Russian treasury. For his “crime” of holding government accountable, Magnitsky was jailed, tortured, denied medical care, and finally beaten to death in his prison cell.
Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to the Magnitsky case as a “tragedy” while vehemently opposing the U.S. legislation named after the whistleblower. Some perpetrators of the Magnitsky persecution even received medals and promotions.
Instead of conducting a proper investigation to bring those responsible for Magnitsky’s death to justice, the Kremlin has threatened to retaliate, accusing the U.S. of meddling in Russia’s internal affairs.
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Russia Trade Bill Provides Opportunity for Bipartisanship
Elected officials will face many contentious issues affecting economic and foreign policy during the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress and heading into 2013. However, one issue on which they should be able to work together is extending permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to Russia.
Russia officially joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in August. However, U.S. businesses will not be able to fully benefit from the concessions Russia made to join the WTO unless Congress first repeals the Jackson–Vanik Amendment, a powerful tool that the U.S. successfully used to promote human rights in the USSR and the Eastern Bloc.
Failure to repeal Jackson–Vanik could place U.S. companies at a disadvantage vis-à-vis companies in other WTO members, which would benefit from significantly increased access to the Russian economy.
Congress and President Obama can demonstrate bipartisan leadership by extending PNTR to Russia while also passing the Magnitsky Act, which would deny U.S. visas to individuals who are guilty of massive human rights violations and freeze all of their assets within the purview of the U.S. government.
Both actions have broad bipartisan backing, and they provide a good opportunity for President Obama and Congress to immediately demonstrate their ability to work together.
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Congressional Hearing Highlights the Need to Pass Magnitsky, PNTR to Russia
Yesterday and today, the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee held hearings on Russia’s abysmal human rights record and its looming accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Obama Administration wants Congress to provide permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to Russia and scrap the 1974 Cold War–era Jackson–Vanik amendment, which denied Russia most-favored-nation status in trade.
The Administration, represented by Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and International Trade Representative Ronald Kirk, argued that if Congress does not waive Jackson–Vanik for Russia,U.S.firms will be put at a disadvantage vis-à-vis everyone else when Russia enters the WTO this August.
Private-sector witnesses attending the House hearing included Caterpillar’s CEO Doug Oberhelman, Michigan Farm Bureau president Wayne Wood, president of Argus Ltd. Michael Rae, and senior vice president of Medtronics James P. Mackin.
Russia is one of the world’s largest economies. The President’s Export Council estimates that the currently meager U.S.exports to Russia could increase when Russia joins the WTO. As Burns said:
Congress has a choice: it can extend Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to Russia, giving American exporters and workers a level the [sic] playing field in one of the fastest growing markets in the world; or it can keep Jackson-Vanik in place, preventing American companies from reaping the benefits of an unprecedented opportunity to boost trade in a large and growing market.
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Russia, PNTR, and Human Rights
Progress on the ability of U.S. firms to take advantage of new business opportunities when Russia joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) took a step forward yesterday when Senate leaders acknowledged that legislation to promote human rights will be a condition needed for permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to move forward, too.
Senators Max Baucus (D–MT), John McCain (R–AZ), John Thune (R–SD) and John Kerry (D–MA) introduced legislation to exempt Russia from the Cold War–era Jackson–Vanik Amendment restrictions, passed in 1974, that no longer effectively promote human rights.
Approval of this legislation will allow U.S. companies to benefit from trade concessions that Russia made in order to join the WTO. Otherwise, American firms attempting to do business in Russia will be placed at a disadvantage in comparison with their foreign competitors.
McCain joined others in calling for passage of the bipartisan Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, introduced by Senator Ben Cardin (D–MD) and McCain, to accompany Jackson–Vanik’s repeal. This legislation would impose penalties on officials from Russia and elsewhere who are responsible for gross violations of human rights. Ignoring legitimate human rights concerns would threaten PNTR’s prospects.
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U.S.–Russia Trade and the Magnitsky Act
Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (H.R. 4405), a measure designed to promote human rights in Russia. The committee’s vote has important implications for both human rights and international trade.
In a few months, Russia will become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). U.S. businesses will not be able to benefit from the concessions Russia made to join the WTO unless Congress first repeals the Jackson–Vanik Amendment, a powerful tool that the U.S. successfully used to promote human rights in Soviet Russia and other countries that restricted emigration during the Cold War. Failure to repeal Jackson–Vanik could place U.S. companies at a disadvantage while other WTO members benefit from significantly increased access to the Russian economy.
Regrettably, the Obama Administration did not work with Congress to resolve these issues before agreeing to Russia’s accession to the WTO. Now, Russian accession will put U.S. businesses at a disadvantage in Russia until Congress repeals Jackson–Vanik.
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The Magnitsky Act: The Moment of Truth
This Thursday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will put the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act up for a vote. The bill seeks “to impose sanctions on persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, and for other gross violations of human rights in the Russian Federation, and for other purposes.”
This past May, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak threatened to retaliate if the Magnitsky bill becomes law. Instead, the Kremlin should have acknowledged its failure to save a person’s life, conducted proper investigation, and thanked American lawmakers for trying to step in where Russian law enforcement failed so abysmally.
The death of Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian prison is a tragedy and demonstration of rampant corruption in the Russian state’s highest echelons. But it is also a symptom of graft and rampant crime blocking normal trade relations between the U.S. and Russia.
Sergei Magnitsky was a 37-year-old attorney and accountant who worked for Hermitage, then-the largest Western private equity fund in Russia. In the course of his work, he uncovered a giant corruption scheme that involved embezzlements of $230 million from the Russian Treasury by law enforcement and tax officials. After making accusations, he was arrested on fabricated tax evasion and tax fraud charges.
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Russian Elections Did Not Bring a Surprise–but Now What?
A recent Heritage event analyzed Russia’s presidential election and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency. The election was held in the aftermath of mass protests against Russian leadership’s corruption and disregard for the rule of law.
According to David Kramer, President of Freedom House, Putin already lost in three ways: 1) by losing his claim to legitimacy, apparent from the mass scale of protests as well as a failure to secure a majority in the recent Duma elections; 2) because the fear that allowed Putin to continue his authoritarian policy is diminishing; and 3) by losing his aura of political invincibility. All these factors make Putin dependent on creating a myth of an outside (U.S.) threat to justify his hardline ways. From the December–February mass demonstrations in Russia, however, it is clear that the Russians are tired of the prevailing corruption that Putin allowed to flourish.
According to Vladimir Kara-Murza, Washington bureau chief for RTVi television network, the current protests are even more significant than those in the early 1990s. This is because while in the 1990s Russian people protested against poor economic conditions in the country, today they demand rule of law.
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