I am pleased to inform you that the Government has established the Global Human Rights sanctions regime by laying regulations in Parliament under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 ('the Sanctions Act'). This is the first UK autonomous sanctions regime under the Sanctions Act and reflects the UK's continued global leadership as a force for good in the world. As provided for by the Sanctions Act, these regulations were laid under the made affirmative procedure.
The Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 allow the Government to impose asset freezes and travel bans in response to activity that would amount to serious human rights violations or abuses of: the right to life; the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and the right to be free from slavery, not to be held in servitude or required to perform forced or compulsory labour. Sanctions can apply not just to the direct perpetrators of violations or abuses, but those who, for example, facilitate, incite, promote, or support violations or abuses. They can also apply to those who financially profit from these human rights violations and abuses.
These sanctions are a forensic tool for the Government's armoury, allowing us to target perpetrators and others involved in violations and abuses via asset freezes and travel bans, without punishing the wider people of a country. The Global Human Rights sanctions regime will be used to promote compliance with international human rights law and respect for human rights, and in particular to provide accountability for and deter serious violations or abuses of human rights.
The Government has made immediate use of the powers. The first designations are on those involved in some of the most notorious and egregious human rights violations in recent years: the mistreatment and death of Sergei Magnitsky; the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi; the systematic and brutal violence against the Rohingya population in Myanmar; and the forced labour, torture and murder that takes place in North Korea's wretched gulags.
This moment will change the paradigm by which foreign policy addresses human rights. Sanctions are most effective when they are backed by coordinated, collective, action - we will therefore work closely with the EU and with Five Eyes allies such as the US, Canada and Australia.
I would like to pay tribute to the many individual Members across both Houses who have long advocated a UK human rights sanctions legislation. I first raised this issue in 2012, and it has been both a passion and a top priority for me as Foreign Secretary. Today, I am proud this Government makes good on this important manifesto commitment.
The work, of course, does not end here. I look forward to working constructively with Parliamentarians of all parties to ensure that we are making the most effective use of this new legislation, underpinning the UK's role as a force for good in the world and defender of the rules-based international system.