WATCH: Announcing the Frozen Assets Repurposing Act, Bill S-259

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On March 21, 2019 Senator Ratna Omidvar joined Allan Rock and other members of the World Refugee Council and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in the Parliamentary Press Gallery to announce her intention to table the Frozen Assets Repurposing Act in the Senate of Canada. A full copy of her remarks can be viewed below along with a video of the press conference. 

I have tabled the Frozen Assets Repurposing Act in the Senate. It will make corrupt foreign leaders and dictators that perpetrate grave crimes against their people, including human rights abuses and mass forced displacement, pay for their crimes with their own ill-gotten gains.

Thanks to Magnitsky Act and other legislation, the Canadian government can already freeze the assets of corrupt foreign officials. What this bill proposes is to take the next and essential step, and to confiscate their assets in Canada, and to repurpose and direct them to help the people they have harmed, including those who have been forced to flee their homes. This will increase accountability in two ways (a) by eliminating the impunity by which corrupt kleptocrats hide their money in safe havens and (b) by redirecting their purloined wealth back to those harmed by their mis-rule.

Let me give you an example: Canada has already frozen the assets of the military generals in Myanmar who committed a genocide against the Rohingya, and forced over a million people to flee to Bangladesh. Once this bill is in force, Canada, through the court, will be able to confiscate their assets and repurpose them to help the Rohingya that are struggling in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

My proposal comes out of the great work of the CIGI-sponsored World Refugee Council, of which I am a member. The Council has been looking at new and innovative ways to deal with the challenge of meeting the needs of an unprecedented number of forcibly displaced people around the world.

There are nearly 70 million forcibly displaced today, which is the highest number since the Second World War.

Sadly, the numbers continue to rise. Recently, 3 million people have been displaced by a corrupt Venezuelan government. These acts are a violation of the fundamental principles of humanity, and civilized nations the world over have to summon a collective response.

I believe that this proposed legislation will help us do so. It will assist us in holding to account those who share in the responsibility for the displacement, while providing additional funding to meet the needs of the displaced.

 

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Click here to read about repurposing frozen assets in the World Refugee Council’s final report.