Proposed legislation would build on existing Magnitsky Act sanctions that target human-rights abusers
Independent Senator Ratna Omidvar has tabled the Frozen Assets Repurposing Act with the support of Allan Rock, the former Liberal attorney-general and justice minister who also served as a United Nations ambassador.An independent Canadian senator has proposed a bill that would allow the government to take the frozen assets of dictators and their cronies to help refugees forced to flee their tyranny.
The bill builds on the recommendation and research of the World Refugee Council, an initiative of the Ontario-based Centre for International Governance Innovation, to put to constructive use the estimated $20 billion to $40 billion seized annually from corrupt officials around the world.
Omidvar said her bill goes one step further than the act because it calls for the confiscation of seized assets so they can be used to help victims of rights abuses, including those forced to flee their homes. The bill would give Canadian courts the authority to confiscate the frozen assets and repurpose them for the benefit of victims. The bill proposes doing this through an application by the attorney general of Canada, the cabinet post Rock held in the former Liberal government of Jean Chretien.
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