The EU on Monday agreed to start work on a sanctions framework to punish human rights abusers anywhere in the world, along the lines of the US Magnitsky Act.

The bloc's new diplomatic chief Josep Borrell said the move would give the EU "much more strength and much more capacity to act", making it a more significant force on the world stage.

The EU can already impose penalties for human rights violations, but it is usually done within sanctions frameworks linked to conflicts or crises such as Ukraine.

"We have agreed to launch the preparatory work for a global sanctions regime to address serious human rights violations, which will be the European Union equivalent of the so-called Magnitsky Act of the United States," Borrell told reporters.

The new framework would allow the EU to identify rights abusers and freeze their assets in Europe and ban them from travelling to the bloc.