Lawmaker to Renew Sanctions Bill to Fight Transnational Repression
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., co-chairman of the House’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said June 10 that he plans to reintroduce a bill that would sanction foreign entities and individuals who directly engage in transnational repression.
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Smith, who previously introduced the Transnational Repression Policy Act in the last Congress, made his comment at a hearing on human rights abuses in Turkey. Smith also said he is writing legislation to address “financial transnational repression.”
Alp Aslandogan, executive director of the Alliance for Shared Values, told the commission that the U.S. should impose Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on Turkish officials who perpetuate “gross” human rights violations, such as torture. Aslandogan said “the Turkish government has unleashed a sweeping and relentless crackdown on dissent” since a failed 2016 coup attempt.
Enes Kanter Freedom, a Turkish-American human rights activist and a former NBA basketball player, told the commission the U.S. should condition arms sales to Turkey on improvements in human rights and the rule of law.
Michael Rubin, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the U.S. should remove the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, saying the group has moderated and announced plans to disband.
Smith said he’s been pushing for years for the U.S. to label Turkey a country of particular concern for violating religious freedom. “With that [designation] comes a prescribing of up to a dozen and a half sanctions that could be levied upon them,” he said. “And they’re very real sanctions if they’re utilized.”