One of the many debates prompted by the UK's decision to
leave the EU is its future policy on targeted sanctions.
Traditionally a tool of foreign policy aimed at changing the
behaviour of foreign regimes, sanctions have increasingly been used
to signal disapproval and to disrupt the activities of targeted
individuals and corporate entities. As an EU member, the UK has
used this tool to impose asset freezes, travel bans and other
restrictions on various targets, primarily to enforce EU decisions
and regulations. How, will, and should this change in
future?
For many of those who make and influence policy in this area, a
large part of the answer to this question is inspired by the death
of the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky (pictured below) and the US
law to which it led: the Global Magnitsky Act, which targets those
believed responsible for human rights violations or significant
corruption. UK parliamentarians and others have pressed the
government to introduce a
