On Monday, December 7, 2020 the EU foreign ministers approved a mechanism that allows member countries to sanction individuals and organizations responsible for human rights abuses. The new mechanism, which is similiar to the US American “Magnitsky Act” gives EU countries the possibility to enact travel bans into the bloc and freeze bank accounts in Europe. Sanctions could be applied for cases like genocide, crimes against humanity, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, slavery or systematic sexual violence, amongst others. Any human rights violations can be punished if they are deemed to be “widespread, systematic or are otherwise of serious concern,” the EU said in a statement.
Or in brief, as German newspaper TAZ headlined: No more shopping for Torturers