Still Not Safe:
Transnational Repression in 2022
By Yana Gorokhovskaia, Nate Schenkkan, and Grady Vaughan
A man armed with an AK-47 rings the doorbell of a home in Brooklyn, New York; he is looking for a journalist and vocal critic
of the Iranian government living there. A political opponent of the Nicaraguan regime is found dead in Honduras; his family
suspects that he was lured to his death from his home in exile in Costa Rica. A labor activist is returned to Bahrain with the help
of an Interpol Red Notice and the cooperation of Serbian officials; he is handed over on a tarmac in Belgrade before sunrise, just
hours after the European Court of Human Rights issues an interim measure against his extradition.
All over the world, individuals brave enough to speak out against repression are being targeted by autocrats who reach across
borders to silence their voices. Tactics of transnational repression—including assassinations, unlawful deportations, detentions,
renditions, physical and digital threats, and coercion by proxy—are used by governments to stamp out dissent among diasporas
and exiles living beyond their borders. More than just a threat to individual activists, transnational repression is a tool of global
authoritarianism. It imperils human rights, democratic values, and national security.
This brief describes new cases and other developments in transnational repression from 2022. Freedom House’s database now
includes information on 854 direct, physical incidents of transnational repression committed by 38 governments in 91 countries
around the world since 2014.1 Last year, Freedom House recorded 79 incidents committed by 20 governments. The most
prolific perpetrators of transnational repression continue to be the governments of China, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, and Tajikistan.
However, more and more governments, from Djibouti to Bangladesh, are employing violence and harassment to repress critics
living abroad and are managing to escape both international and domestic accountability.
As in previous years, formal and informal cooperation between authoritarian governments to harass, detain, and return
individuals posed the most serious threat to exiles; both the origin and host governments were rated Not Free by Freedom
House in 70 percent of incidents recorded last year.
Journalists and others exercising their freedom of expression
again found themselves in the crosshairs of extraterritorial
targeting in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine made more people vulnerable to
transnational repression in Europe and Central Asia. Two
prominent host countries, the United Kingdom and the
United States, made strides in creating policy responses
to counter the threat posed by autocrats. However,
both governments allowed competing foreign policy
considerations and restrictive migration policies to continue
to endanger people seeking protection from oppression.
Freedom House’s database now
includes information on 854 direct,
physical incidents of transnational
repression committed by 38
governments in 91 countries
around the world since 2014.
Suggested citation: Yana Gorokhovskaia, Nate Schenkkan, Grady Vaughan, Still Not Safe: Transnational Repression in 2022,
(Washington, DC: Freedom House, April 2023).
@freedomhouse
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