Foreign Affairs committee  Could I ask for clarification on the question?

Foreign Affairs committee  I think sanctions enforcement is absolutely critical for their effectiveness. I'm not familiar with the specifics of the example of Haiti that you cited, but in terms of enforcement on the U.S. side, we typically see that it includes visa bans enforcement. It's usually very strong and there are very limited exceptions to that.

Foreign Affairs committee  In our study, we looked at all the sanctions that were done under the JVCFOA and SEMA focused on human rights and corruption since 2017. Our evaluation of that is based on the public statements coming out from Global Affairs Canada when it announces sanctions. That data is based on analysis of those statements coming from the Government of Canada as to why they're imposing the sanctions and the type of conduct they're concerned about.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. Thank you very much. Our work is with not only U.S.-based, but internationally based and locally based NGOs and civil society organizations whose sole purpose is documenting and tracking human rights abuses and corrupt networks in their countries. They're the ones being directly impacted by those abuses.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. I think that's another area where Canada could be doing more. Almost all of Canada's sanctions have been targeting countries that are not allies or partners of Canada and that are considered repressive or not free, based on the Freedom House standards in this report. I think that's a missed opportunity, because we've often seen that some of the sanctions with the greatest impact from the U.S. side are actually ones that are targeted at countries where the U.S. has fairly strong relationships and in countries where there is at least some level of rule of law present.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's an area that we're studying a lot at the moment in terms of how to best evaluate the impact of sanctions. Obviously it's a very case-specific evaluation and can be a little bit difficult to overgeneralize. We find that governments use sanctions for a variety of different reasons, as you mentioned.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for your question. Typically, our work has been focused on the U.S. for the past five years. It's only more recently that we've been able to expand it to the U.K., the EU and Canada. I will say, though, on the responsiveness of the U.S. government we've been able to track to date, that we've been very proud of and very encouraged by the fact that one-third of the sanctions we see coming from the U.S.'

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it's a little bit different in each country. We work very closely with partner organizations in Canada. We work with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre, and they have direct connections with the sanctions officials and teams—

Foreign Affairs committee  I can speak to the U.S. side. From our perspective, in the U.S., we've been able to identify the offices at the treasury department—the office of foreign assets control—and the offices at the State Department that are involved in sanctions decision-making. Over the years, we've built a close, trusting relationship with those offices.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on Magnitsky sanctions. Human Rights First is an independent, non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights and urging the U.S. to take a leading role in this effort, both at home and around the world.