Norway Recommends Bringing Magnitsky Sanctions to the UN Security Council

May 23, 2013

Nor­we­gian For­eign Affairs Min­is­ter Espen Barth Eide has rec­om­mend­ed bring­ing the issue of Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions to the UN Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil. Respond­ing to a group of Nor­we­gian par­lia­men­tar­i­ans, Min­is­ter Eide point­ed out that the deci­sions of the UN Coun­cil are bind­ing on all UN mem­ber states and would be a prop­er forum to con­sid­er the issue of sanc­tions and asset freezes in rela­tion to Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case, as opposed to an indi­vid­ual action by Norway.

In his let­ter to a group of Nor­we­gian law­mak­ers (avail­able at: http://nhc.no/filestore/Dokumenter/Land/Russland/2013/ResponsefromNorwayFM8May2013.pdf), For­eign Affairs Min­is­ter Eide said that Mag­nit­sky case has now become sym­bol­ic of the neg­a­tive trend in human rights in Rus­sia, and “rais­es the ques­tion of the Russ­ian legal sys­tem independence.”

“I also agree that Mag­nit­sky case has become of sym­bol­ic sig­nif­i­cance as an expres­sion of the neg­a­tive trend we are now see­ing of an increased pres­sure on human rights, civ­il soci­ety and polit­i­cal oppo­si­tion in Rus­sia,” said Nor­we­gian For­eign Affairs Minister.

Min­is­ter Eide shared the con­cern expressed by Nor­we­gian mem­bers of par­lia­ment over the posthu­mous tri­al of Sergei Mag­nit­sky car­ried out by Russ­ian author­i­ties in spite of it being three years after his death in police custody. 

“I share their [Nor­we­gian mem­bers of par­lia­ment] con­cern about how Russ­ian author­i­ties have han­dled the super­vi­sion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky death in cus­tody. The posthu­mous tri­al of Mag­nit­sky is just as dis­turb­ing,” said Min­is­ter Eide.

Respond­ing to the mat­ter of intro­duc­ing visa sanc­tions and asset freezes on Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case in Nor­way, Min­is­ter Eide sug­gest­ed that the best forum to con­sid­er it would be the UN Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil, rather than a uni­lat­er­al action by Nor­way, who is not an EU member.

“When it comes to the issue of sanc­tions and the freez­ing of funds, I under­line that the basis for the Nor­we­gian sanc­tions pol­i­cy is that sanc­tions should be based on bind­ing deci­sions of the UN Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil, such deci­sions are also legal­ly bind­ing for all UN mem­ber states. Nor­way has no tra­di­tion of uni­lat­er­al action against indi­vid­ual coun­tries or per­sons, and in our opin­ion it is not nec­es­sar­i­ly legit­i­mate and have the legal effect to be effec­tive,” said Min­is­ter Eide.

Min­is­ter Eide stressed that Nor­way will con­tin­ue to use its mem­ber­ship in inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions, such as the OSCE and the Coun­cil of Europe, to indi­vid­u­al­ly and joint­ly with oth­er like-mind­ed peo­ple raise the human rights agen­da in Rus­sia, includ­ing through the strength­en­ing of the mon­i­tor­ing mech­a­nism at the Coun­cil of Europe, of which Rus­sia is a member.

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