Comparative Study of the European Union and Canadian Human Rights Sanctions Regimes

This study offers a comprehensive overview of the European Union Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (EUGHRSR), the Canadian Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) and Justice for Victims of Foreign Corrupt Officials Act (JVCFOA) as they relate to targeting human rights abuses, providing relevant experts from the EU and Canada with an in-depth grasp of each other’s human rights sanctions regimes. After providing an overview of the EUGHRSR, the SEMA and the JVCFOA individually, a three-way analysis of the sanctions regimes is undertaken to reveal the key legal, practical, and policy points of convergence and divergence between them, and to assess their relative impact. The study is concluded with a list of recommendations to strengthen the bilateral sanctions cooperation between the EU and Canada.