Efforts by a state to prevent dissent outside its borders
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, prompting response from agencies such as the
FBI.[4][5]
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.[8] According to
political scientistGerasimos Tsourapas, global autocracies engage in complex strategies of transnational
repression,
legitimation, and co-optation as well as
cooperation with
non-state actors.[9]
Typology of transnational repression
Sociologist Dana M. Moss has argued for a typology of transnational repression,[10] as described below:
Lethal retribution
The actual or attempted assassinations of dissidents abroad by regime agents or proxies.
Threats
Verbal or written warnings directed to members of the diaspora, including the summoning of individuals by regime officials to their embassies for this purpose.
Surveillance
The gathering and sending of information about co-nationals to the state security apparatus by informant networks composed of regime agents, loyalists, and coerced individuals.
Exile
The direct and indirect banishment of dissidents from the home country, including when the threat of physical confinement and harm prevents activists from returning.
Withdrawing scholarships
The rescinding of students’ state benefits for refusing to participate in regime-mandated actions or organizations abroad.
Proxy punishment
The harassment, physical confinement, and/or bodily harm of relatives in the home-country as a means of information-gathering and retribution against dissidents abroad.
In March 2023, a bipartisan group of United States senators introduced the Transnational Repression Policy Act.[17][18] The proposed law would mandate that the
intelligence community identify and share information about perpetrators of transnational repression in the United States.[19] In October 2023, the
Government Accountability Office reported that the US does not have adequate laws to combat acts of transnational repression.[20]
In April 2023, the
United States Department of Justice indicted Chinese operatives with crimes related to a transnational repression campaign utilizing a
Chinese police overseas service station in Manhattan.[23][24] 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.[25]
In July 2023, the United States Department of State labeled the
Hong Kong Police Force's bounties on eight prominent dissidents living abroad as an instance of "transnational repression efforts."[26][27]
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.[29] A report the same year by
Mohamed Soltan's nonprofit Freedom Initiative stated that Egypt and Saudi Arabia have become "... more innovative and emboldened" in carrying out acts of transnational repression.[30]
In 2023, the
Index on Censorship has referred to the Chinese government's attempts to
censor artist
Badiucao's overseas exhibitions as an example of transnational repression.[31]
^黄, 彩婵; 郑, 婉英 (2022-06-20).
"外交部指阿桑奇案是美英配合对特定人士跨国镇压" (in Chinese).
TDM (Macau). TDM.
Archived from the original on 2023-04-17. Retrieved 25 June 2023. 汪文斌称,英国在配合美国逮捕引渡阿桑奇方面可谓不遗余力,迅速推进相关程序,充分显示英方维系同美特殊关系的忠诚,以及美英配合对特定人士跨国镇压的事实。