In this episode, Rachel Wolcott senior editor in the UK speaks to Natalia Kubesch, a lawyer for Redress.org a non-governmental organization in London. This episode is about the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity and why the current approach to sanctions and asset confiscation does not do enough to help them.

Natalia specializes in using Magnitsky Sanctions to provide accountability for serious human rights violations. Redress represents victims of torture and helps them seek accountability and justice. Part of Natalia’s work is advocating for the use of sanctions and asset confiscation to respond to serious human rights abuses and corruption.

Natalia talks about work to confiscate assets related to Bashar al-Assad’s uncle, the former Syrian vice president Rifaat al-Assad to be used to support the Syrian people. The Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s office filed charges (https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/graeueltaten-in-syrien-bundesanwaltschaft-klagt-gegen-onkel-von-baschar-al-assad) against Rifaat al-Assad in March this year. He is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The UK has frozen an estimated £161 million in assets related to the Assad regime since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began. These assets could be used to help victims of the al-Assad regime, Natalia says.

Redress is also working with civil society groups in Myanmar to expose the use of shell companies domiciled in UK overseas territories to avoid sanctions and provide funding for its military junta. Redress and its partners have reported these possible sanctions breaches by to UK law enforcement.

Lastly, Natalia calls on the UK government to improve its approach to sanctions implementation and enforcement as well as to break the two-year impasse with Roman Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea Football Club. He pledged £2.5 billion from Chelsea FC’s sale to help Ukrainians, but that help has not materialized. Natalia explains why.

Links:
UK should legislate to confiscate Russian state assets, accelerate financial crime enforcement, MPs hear (paywall) go-ri.tr.com/s2pP2a
New U.S. sanctions target Russian financial system, blacklist its operations in China and India and bolster 'secondary sanctions' risk (free) https://regintel-content.thomsonreuters.com/document/IC3FF985028EE11EFA4C58DA52BBFD8DA/New-U.S.-sanctions-target-Russian-financial-system,-blacklist-its-operations-in-China-and-India-and-bolster-'secondary-sanctions'-risk-13-06-2024
FATF standards used by authoritarian regimes to justify suppression -RUSI report (free) https://regintel-content.thomsonreuters.com/document/I5D740E40271811EFA4C58DA52BBFD8DA/FATF-standards-used-by-authoritarian-regimes-to-justify-suppression--RUSI-report-11-06-2024
Redress.org’s evidence to the UK parliament’s Treasury Committee https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/129074/html/
Charities criticize delay to release £2.5 billion Chelsea FCA sale funds https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/charities-criticise-delay-to-release-2-5bn-chelsea-fc-sale-funds-two-years-since-pledge.html



Compliance Clarified is a podcast from Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence.
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