On 7 July 2020 the foreign secretary announced a new ‘Magnitsky’ style sanctions regime designed to target those who have been involved in some of the gravest human rights violations and abuses around the world: Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/680) (GHRSR).
It immediately designated 49 individuals and organisations for sanctions under what the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) described as a ‘powerful new regime’.Those designated included: Russian nationals involved in the mistreatment and death of Sergei Magnitsky; Saudi nationals involved in the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi; Myanmar military generals involved in systemic and brutal violence against the Rohingya people and other ethnic minorities; and organisations involved in the forced labour, torture and murder connected with North Korean gulags. The FCO said the regime would allow the UK to target individuals and organisations around the world, unlike nation-focused conventional geographic sanctions.
Under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EU and UN sanctions will continue to apply in
