Transnational repression

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Transnational repression is a type of political repression conducted by a state outside its borders. It often involves targeting political dissidents or critical members of diaspora communities abroad and can take the forms of assassinations and/or enforced disappearances of citizens, among others. [1] [2] [3] Freedom House has documented its rise worldwide in recent years. Incidents that occur in the United States have been investigated by such agencies as the FBI. [4] [5]

Contents

International relations scholar Laurie Brand asserts that autocracies face specific challenges and opportunities in the international sphere that affect authoritarian practices. Specifically, the rise of transnationalism and practices that transcend national borders have led autocracies to develop strategies aiming to manage their citizens' migration. [6] According to political scientist Gerasimos Tsourapas, global autocracies engage in complex strategies of transnational repression, legitimation, and co-optation, as well as cooperation with non-state actors. [7] Countries with more robust democracies are much less likely to pursue transnational repression. Some of these countries have been criticized for not doing enough to protect foreign nationals living in their countries. [8] Cooperation between countries has been more common when the two countries have had close economic ties. [8]

The New York Times reported that the frequency of cases of transnational repression worldwide seems to be increasing as of 2024, due in part to some authoritarian governments responding to how globalization and the internet allow for more communication across countries. [9] While this term is relatively new, such repressive actions have been documented for decades. [10] As of 2023, China has been the most active country engaged in transnational repression by a significant margin, accounting for a quarter of all cases documented by Freedom House. [10]

Typology of transnational repression

Sociologist Dana M. Moss, who coined the term 'transnational repression' in 2016, [11] categorized repression into six types: [12]

Lethal retributionThe actual or attempted assassinations of dissidents abroad by regime agents or proxies.
ThreatsVerbal or written warnings directed to members of the diaspora, including the summoning of individuals by regime officials to their embassies for this purpose.
SurveillanceThe gathering and sending of information about co-nationals to the state security apparatus by informant networks composed of regime agents, loyalists, and coerced individuals.
ExileThe direct and indirect banishment of dissidents from the home country, including when the threat of physical confinement and harm prevents activists from returning.
Withdrawing scholarshipsThe rescinding of students’ state benefits for refusing to participate in regime-mandated actions or organizations abroad.
Proxy punishmentThe harassment, physical confinement, and/or bodily harm of relatives in the home-country as a means of information-gathering and retribution against dissidents abroad.

Governments accused

By 2024, some 44 countries have been documented as committing transnational repression, according to Freedom House. [13] The organization noted that it has become a more common practice worldwide. [13] As of 2023, China has been the country most actively engaged in transnational repression by a significant margin. [10] [8] According to Freedom House, the most prolific actors involved in transnational repression after China from 2014-2023, were the governments of Turkey, Egypt, Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan. [8] Other nations of concern included Iran, India, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Saudi Arabia. [14]

A 2024 Human Rights Watch report documented 75 cases between 2009 and 2024, which were committed by more than two dozen governments, including Algeria, Bahrain, Belarus, Cambodia, [15] Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, South Sudan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, and the UAE. [16] [9]

Countries with more robust democracies are much less likely to pursue transnational repression. Some have been criticised for not doing enough to protect foreign nationals or people of the diasporas living in their countries. [8] Cooperation between countries was more common when the two countries had close economic ties. [8] The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution on October 1, 2024 that defended Julian Assange for his 'journalistic work' and reiterated its condemnation of all forms and practices of transnational repression. [17]

China

In July 2023, the United States Department of State classified the Hong Kong Police Force's bounties on eight prominent dissidents living abroad as an instance of "transnational repression efforts." [18] [19]

In April 2023, the United States Department of Justice indicted Chinese operatives for crimes related to a transnational repression campaign using a Chinese police overseas service station in Manhattan. [20] [21] Following the indictments, the FBI described seeing an "inflection point in the tactics and tools and the level of risk and the level of threat" in transnational repression. [22]

In March 2022, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken characterized the Chinese government's attempts to silence Uyghur activists outside its borders as part of a campaign of transnational repression. [23] [24] A 2023 report published by the University of Sheffield called for increased use of Magnitsky legislation in response to the transnational repression of the Uyghur diaspora. [25] This repression has increased in 2024 according to some Uyghur exiles. [26]

In 2023, The Washington Post reported that China supported violent counterprotestors who attempted to silence criticism of Xi Jinping at the APEC United States 2023 summit in San Francisco. [13] The Index on Censorship has described the Chinese government's attempts to censor artist Badiucao's overseas exhibitions as an example of transnational repression. [27]

As of 2024, Chinese students studying abroad who engaged in political activism against the regime faced harassment and retribution directly or through family members living in China. [28] [29] [30]

Egypt

A report by Mohamed Soltan's nonprofit Freedom Initiative stated that Egypt has become "... more innovative and emboldened" in carrying out acts of transnational repression. Actions include targeting dissidents in the United States. [31]

India

In 2023, the Sikh Coalition wrote to the United States government to warn about Indian transnational repression and rising Hindu nationalist threats in the US in the aftermath of the killing in Canada of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. [32] The Canadian government is investigating what it said were 'credible allegations of a potential link' in Nijjar's death to the Indian government. [33]

Russia

As of 2024, Russia has focused its repression on anti-war and other political activists as well as journalists; it ranks among the most active perpetrators of transnational repression in the world. [34] [35] Russia has a history of transnational repression that was documented in the Tsarist regimes. [9]

Saudi Arabia

A report by Mohamed Soltan's nonprofit Freedom Initiative stated that, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia has become "... more innovative and emboldened" in carrying out acts of transnational repression. [31] As of 2024, The Guardian reported Saudi Arabia as one of the major perpetrators of transnational repression in the world. [36]

Turkey

In June 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that Turkey's failure to ratify Sweden's NATO membership bid is part of its campaign of transnational repression. It called upon Turkey to end its intimidation of exiled journalist Bülent Keneş and to both recognise and respect the Swedish Supreme Court's decision not to extradite him. [37] [38]

Defenses

United States

In December 2021, the US passed the Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention (TRAP) Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022. [39] The law aims to combat abuse of Interpol notices. [40] [41]

In March 2023, a bipartisan group of United States senators introduced the Transnational Repression Policy Act. [42] [43] [10] The proposed law would mandate that the intelligence community identify and share information about perpetrators of transnational repression operting in the United States. [44] In October 2023, the Government Accountability Office reported that the US does not have adequate laws to combat acts of transnational repression. [45]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Transnational repression by China refers to efforts by the government of the People's Republic of China to exert control and silence dissent beyond its national borders. Transnational repression targets groups and individuals perceived as threats to or critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The methods include digital surveillance, physical intimidation, coercion, and misuse of international legal systems.

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Further reading