Skip to content

A Bipartisan Win for Religious Freedom | Opinion

In a remarkable show of bipartisan cooperation, last week, the Senate unanimously reauthorized the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

The reauthorization, included within a bill to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, makes permanent a landmark piece of legislation used to target gross violators of internationally recognized human rights. The act has been a vital tool in advancing religious freedom worldwide. Now that the president has signed it, it should be vigorously enforced, including in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Since the passage of the Global Magnitsky Act in 2016, targeted financial and immigration sanctions have been increasingly used for the protection of human rights and in the fight against corruption. Targeted sanctions have the benefit of holding the worst human rights violators accountable for their actions while not being as broad or blunt as country-wide sanctions. Targeted sanctions tell violators they are no longer welcome to do business with the United States. Countries around the world are seeing the benefit of these sanctions. Global Magnitsky Acts have been adopted in Canada, the U.K., the EU and most recently Australia, among others,” writes Sean Nelson, Legal Counsel for ADF International.

Read the full article in Newsweek.

Images for free use in print or online in relation to this story only.

Would you give today?

Stay Informed

Get involved! Sign up to receive updates:

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name*

Statement of Faith

Based on our adherence to the inspired, infallible, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God in Scripture, we profess with the Christian Church throughout time and around the world the faith expressed in the Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.