SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines – British financier and political activist Bill Browder and human rights lawyer Chel Diokno will lead an exclusive briefing for Rappler PLUS members entitled Understanding the Magnitsky Act on Thursday, February 6, at 6:30 pm.
US Senate Resolution 142, which seeks to sanction Philippine officials responsible for extrajudicial killings and Senator Leila de Lima’s detention, invoked the Global Magnitsky Act. The American law gives the US executive branch the power to impose visa and travel restrictions, as well as financial sanctions, on human rights violators anywhere in the world.
The same resolution also denounced the detention of human rights defenders and the “harassment, arrest, and unjustified judicial proceedings” against media, particularly Rappler and its CEO Maria Ressa. (READ: TIMELINE: Duterte against ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal)
US President Donald Trump has 120 days – since the resolution’s passage on January 9 – to determine if Philippine officials are responsible for human rights violations.
On Wednesday, January 22, Senator and former Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa confirmed the cancellation of his US visa. Dela Rosa was the architect of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs when he led the national police force between July 2016 and April 2018.
Event speakers Browder and Diokno are both known for their human rights advocacy.
Browder is the Founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Fund – the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005 when he exposed the corruption of Russian state-owned companies. His Russian tax advisor Sergei Magnitsky was killed in a Moscow prison after uncovering a $230-million fraud that implicated Russian government officials. For nearly a decade, Browder has led a global campaign seeking to deny visa applications and freeze assets of human rights violators.
Diokno is a celebrated human rights lawyer who is the son of late anti-Martial Law senator Jose Diokno. He is the founding dean of the De La Salle University College of Law and the chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group, an organization of human rights lawyers in the Philippines.
Learn about the Global Magnitsky Act and its implications on human rights in the Philippine context. (READ: Why the Global Magnitsky Act matters to the Philippines)
You can catch Understanding the Magnitsky Act by joining Rappler PLUS. Sign up at rappler.com/plus.
Members also get exclusive access to the livestream footage at the top of this page. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.