Provisional version
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Transnational repression as a growing threat to the rule of law
and human rights
Report*
Rapporteur: Sir Christopher CHOPE, United Kingdom, European Conservatives Group and
Democratic Alliance
A.
Draft resolution
1.
The assassination and dismemberment of a Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, inside Saudi Arabia’s
consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 brought transnational repression to light as a global phenomenon. The
Assembly notes that there are four main methods of transnational repression:
1.1. direct attacks by which an origin state carries out a targeted physical attack against an individual
abroad, such as assassinations, assaults, disappearances, physical intimidation, and violent forced
renditions;
1.2. co-opting other countries to act against a target through detention, unlawful deportation, and other
types of forced renditions, which are authorised through pro forma but meaningless legal procedures.
This method includes misuse of Interpol Red Notices, extradition proceedings, and other forms of
interstate legal assistance such as anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing measures;
1.3. mobility impediments such as passport cancellation and denial of consular services, preventing
the target from travelling or causing them to be detained; and
1.4. threats from a distance, including online intimidation or surveillance and coercion by proxy, in
which a person’s family, loved one, or business partner is threatened, imprisoned, or otherwise targeted.
2.
Reportedly, the number of incidents of physical transnational repression committed since 2014 has
reached 854 by the end of 2022. These acts were committed by 38 governments in 91 countries around the
world. The most prolific perpetrators of transnational repression are, according to the non-governmental
organisation Freedom House, the governments of China, Türkiye, Russia, Egypt and Tajikistan.
3.
The Parliamentary Assembly is alarmed about the number and gravity of acts of transnational repression
committed in Europe, including on the territory of some member States. The most egregious example is the
state-sponsored programme to pursue dissidents abroad implemented by the Russian Federation, which
includes notorious targeted assassinations, such as the poisoning and killing of former intelligence officer
Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 and the poisoning and attempted assassination of former intelligence officer
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018 (also known as the “Salisbury attack”); both occurred in the
United Kingdom. With regard to Mr Litvinenko’s targeted assassination, the European Court of Human Rights
*
Draft resolution and draft recommendation adopted unanimously by the committee on 23 May 2023.
F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex