TNR Research

The 46-page report, “‘We Will Find You’: A Global Look at How Governments Repress Nationals Abroad,” is a rights-centered analysis of how governments are targeting dissidents, activists, political opponents, and others living abroad. Human Rights Watch examined killings, removals, abductions and enforced disappearances, collective punishment of relatives, abuse of consular services, and digital attacks. The report also highlights governments’ targeting of women fleeing abuse, and government misuse of Interpol.

Over three years after the Taliban takeover of the country, Afghanistan human rights defenders (HRDs) and women human rights defenders (WHRDs) face significant and unprecedented challenges. Those who are living inside Afghanistan are not only restricted from continuing their human rights work, but also live under constant threats to their safety due to the Taliban’s intensified violence and harassment. In particular, WHRDs grapple with the Taliban’s misogynistic policies, targeting them with systematic persecution and discrimination, resulting in the deprivation of their basic rights that amounts to gender apartheid.

After 15 August 2021, many defenders have been forced into hiding or have managed to flee the country for their survival. Those who sought refuge in transit countries – mainly Iran and Pakistan – face innumerable risks such as deportation, harassment, and economic constraints to their livelihood. Meanwhile, those defenders settled in western countries benefit from a comparatively greater security, while still facing their own set of difficulties, including concerns about their overall well-being and the lack of a long-term support system to sustain their human rights work while in exile.

Against this backdrop, this research illustrates the circumstances of Afghanistan’s HRDs both inside and outside Afghanistan, exploring the main problems that they face, their needs, as well as opportunities for resuming or continuing their work. With the aim to support to the Afghanistan human rights movement including through its diaspora groups, the research also provides workable recommendations to various stakeholders who are positioned to fulfill the needs of Afghanistan defenders. https://forum-asia.org/exilehrd/

As reflected in Canada’s security policies, authorities at the highest levels are aware of risks posed by foreign governments to the country’s multiethnic population and to its institutions, and sovereignty.

Key origin states: China, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia

Best practices: National security framework recognizes foreign threats against diaspora communities; Extradition requests and Interpol notices vetted

China conducts the most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world. Efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to pressure and control the overseas population of Chinese and members of minority communities are marked by three distinctive characteristics. First, the campaign targets many groups, including multiple ethnic and religious minorities, political dissidents, human rights activists, journalists, and former insiders accused of corruption. Second, it spans the full spectrum of tactics: from direct attacks like renditions, to co-opting other countries to detain and render exiles, to mobility controls, to threats from a distance like digital threats, spyware, and coercion by proxy. Third, the sheer breadth and global scale of the campaign is unparalleled. Freedom House’s conservative catalogue of direct, physical attacks since 2014 covers 214 cases originating from China, far more than any other country.

Freedom House is engaged in a multiyear study of transnational repression. Its latest report, Defending Democracy in Exile, published in June 2022, examines what is being done to protect exiles and diaspora members who are being intimidated and attacked by the governments from which they fled. The report assesses the responses mounted by host governments, international organizations, and technology companies. It builds on the findings of Out of Sight, Not Out of Reach: The Global Scale and Scope of Transnational Repression—the first global study of this dangerous practice, which Freedom House released in February 2021.

Related resources:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Q_9IUosCE&t=71s
• https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression

The purpose of this case study is to learn about the specific experiences and needs of Nicaraguan HRDs exiled in Costa Rica and provide recommendations to strengthen and expand their support and protection.

In a joint investigation, Citizen Lab and Access Now found that seven Russian and Belarusian-speaking independent journalists and opposition activists based in Europe were targeted and/or infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus mercenary spyware. This investigation describes hacking that took place between August 2020 and January 2023. Our findings also surfaced forensic artifacts that suggest (but do not prove) the possibility that at least five of the cases may be the result of targeting by a single NSO Group customer.

https://www.accessnow.org/publication/civil-society-in-exile-pegasus/

Germany hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world and at least a dozen governments target their nationals residing in Germany, including the most prolific offenders like Turkey and China.

Key origin states: Egypt, Russia, Rwanda, Turkey, Vietnam

Best practices: Proactive protection for targeted individuals; Oversight of extradition requests

An investigation by Access Now and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto (the Citizen Lab) has revealed that the iPhone of journalist Galina Timchenko, head of Meduza, a leading Russian independent media outlet based in Latvia, has been infected with Israeli firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

https://www.accessnow.org/publication/hacking-meduza-pegasus-spyware-used-to-target-putins-critic/

The Iranian regime’s expansive definition of who constitutes a threat to the Islamic Republic contributes to the breadth and intensity of its transnational repression campaign. The authorities frequently label the targeted dissidents and journalists as terrorists, using the term as a blanket justification for violence and disregard for due process. The campaign incorporates the full spectrum of transnational repression tactics, including assassinations, renditions, detentions, unlawful deportations, Interpol abuse, digital intimidation, spyware, coercion by proxy, and mobility controls. These tools have been deployed against Iranians in at least nine countries in Europe, the Middle East, and North America.