September 5, 2024

Dear Secretary Yellen and Secretary Blinken,

We write to you with deep concern about the U.S. government’s declining use of Global Magnitsky sanctions and responsiveness to sanctions recommendations from civil society. We urge you to prioritize the effective use of this human rights and anticorruption accountability tool in a manner that draws on civil society advocacy, as required by the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

We are members of a global coalition of human rights, anticorruption, and press freedom nongovernmental organizations that since 2017 have provided your departments with more than 160 evidence-based recommendations identifying perpetrators of human rights abuses and corruption across more than 60 countries who are eligible for Global Magnitsky sanctions. While this work grew out of the Global Magnitsky Act’s direction that credible information from NGOs must be considered in targeting decisions, in practice it has been fully welcomed by U.S. officials. Until recently, approximately one-third of Global Magnitsky sanctions have appeared to have a basis in our recommendations. 

This civil society engagement has been critical to the strength and success of the Global Magnitsky sanctions program and the effectiveness of the U.S. government’s efforts to respond to and deter abusive actors. We regularly hear from officials at the Treasury and State Departments that the information provided by our coalition partners is vital to their work. We know that civil society recommendations have been behind some of the cases that U.S. officials consider to be the most impactful. These sanctions have quite literally saved lives. The United States has been a global leader in recognizing the remarkable value that civil society groups bring to the process of sanctioning human rights abusers and corrupt actors, and establishing a positive model of engagement that has inspired counterparts in the United Kingdom, Canada, the European Union, and Australia. 

However, over the course of the Biden administration, we have noted with concern the steady downturn in the use of Global Magnitsky sanctions, with three straight fiscal years seeing fewer primary designations than the year before. FY 2023 saw a 56 percent drop in annual primary designations compared to FY 2020; FY 2024 appears to be ending near similarly low levels. We have seen a parallel steep decline in the number of such sanctions that appear to have a basis in civil society’s recommendations. By our estimates, since January 2023, only 10 percent of Global Magnitsky sanctions cases had a basis in civil society recommendations of which we are aware – a far drop from the first year of the Biden administration during which an estimated 36 percent of cases were based on civil society recommendations. This stark change cannot be explained by decreased advocacy from civil society, as we are aware of dozens of cases submitted within recent years that have not yet been reflected in public sanctions actions.  

While sanctions are tools of U.S. foreign policy, the unique power of Global Magnitsky sanctions greatly relies on the fact that this particular tool has a specific purpose – to condemn and hold accountable perpetrators of the world’s worst abuses. As such, these sanctions must be used in ways that maintain their credibility and effectiveness. We believe that requires taking seriously the recommendations of civil society actors who have the deepest expertise on patterns of abuse and who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of justice and accountability. Failure to do so undermines the reputation and credibility of Global Magnitsky sanctions, contributes to perceptions that political preferences play a greater role in sanctions decisions than merit, and misses opportunities for greater impact by acting where leading activists have already built a strong foundation of advocacy.   

Our coalition members know the great risks that sanctions advocacy can pose for themselves, their colleagues, and their families, including harassment, surveillance, prosecution, and imprisonment. We know that the most abusive regimes would not stop there. Yet our coalition members continue to seek and appreciate Global Magnitsky sanctions as one of the few ways to impose tangible consequences and accountability on those who have inflicted so much pain on their communities and countries. 

We have the greatest respect and gratitude for the many U.S. officials over the years who have been committed to engaging with our coalition in good faith, listening to our recommendations, and seeking our advice. And we believe, as Congress intended, that this sanctions program will be more credible and effective when it is more closely aligned with civil society recommendations than it has been these past few years. 

In these final months of the Biden administration, we urge you to take immediate steps to prioritize acting on civil society’s calls for Global Magnitsky sanctions. While we understand the targeting process takes time, we know many recommendations have been considered for months or more. Our coalition remains ready to discuss these cases with your teams and ways to further strengthen this invaluable sanctions program. 

Sincerely,

(EANC among 96 organizations to sign to date.)