OUT OF SIGHT, NOT OUT OF REACH The Global Scale and Scope of Transnational Repression Regional Snapshots A ggressive transnational repression campaigns are carried out by authorities around the world. In addition to the six origin states examined in this report’s case studies, Freedom House identified 25 additional origin states, conducting transnational repression activities in 43 countries. Beyond the grave harms inflicted on diaspora and exile communities and their networks at home, these cross-border campaigns erode international norms of due process, and threaten democracy and human rights worldwide. The following snapshots offer an overview of transnational repression in five regions. Asia Koh Kong, Cambodia - 1998/05/01: Cambodian border police examine passports of people leaving Thailand at a newly-opened international border crossing. This connects with Had Lek in Thailand. Image credit: Jerry Redfern/LightRocket via Getty Images. While China is the largest offender in Asia, numerous other governments in the region engage in transnational repression—notably those in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Authorities in these countries most frequently operate within the region, often in Thailand. Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam all use coercion by proxy, digital threats, and mobility controls against exiles, in addition to physical tactics of repression. Cambodia and Vietnam have deployed spyware against targets abroad. While Thailand has acquired commercial spyware, its deployment against exiles is not confirmed. 44 @FreedomHouse The Thai government is allegedly behind multiple assassinations and unexplained disappearances in Laos, renditions from Cambodia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, as well as an assault in Japan. The campaign appears to be a dissentquelling strategy of the military-dominated government that first came to power in a 2014 coup,296 with the first documented case in 2016. It targets a narrow profile of individuals: all 11 people in cases documented by Freedom House were viewed by the government as engaging in antistate actions in some form, including violating Thailand’s draconian lèse-majesté law. All participated in some form #TransnationalRepression