AS/Jur (2023) 17 - - establish a specific mechanism to track domestic incidents of transnational repression and identify the perpetrator governments; review counterintelligence and law enforcement information-sharing practices and ensure that they effectively disseminate data about threats stemming from transnational repression; apply additional vetting to extradition requests and Interpol notices; review extradition, legal cooperation, readmission and return, and intelligence-sharing agreements with governments that engage in transnational repression; screen applications for diplomatic visas to avoid granting accreditation to diplomatic personnel who have harassed, intimidated or otherwise harmed exiles or diaspora members; restrict the export of surveillance technology; strictly regulate the purchase and use of surveillance tools and protect end-to-end encryption: impose targeted sanctions on perpetrators and enablers of transnational repression; use persona non grata designations to ensure accountability for transnational repression, including by expelling diplomats who are directly involved in transnational repression; restrict security assistance and arms sales to governments that perpetrate acts of transnational repression; review the processes for issuing warnings and assigning police protection to individuals; commit to respecting the right to seek asylum; limit the use of temporary and subsidiary forms of protection for asylum seekers and instead grant full refugee status, allowing for family reunification, which reduces the threat of coercion by proxy; include details on the use of transnational repression in the information about countries of origin that is consulted during reviews of asylum applications; build resilience against the use of spurious terrorism charges to distort host countries’ asylum and extradition processes; fund civil society organisations that monitor incidents of transnational repression or that provide resources to targeted individuals or groups. 67. Freedom House’s recommendations for UN member States include: recognising transnational repression as a specific threat to human rights; reviewing and revising the protections that are offered to human rights defenders and other activists who engage with the UN to better address the risk of transnational repression; and establishing a special rapporteur on transnational repression, with the required mandate to have a comprehensive picture of the problem. Other recommendations are specifically addressed to civil society and technology companies. 68. It is also worth taking into consideration the proposals contained in the recent “Declaration of Principles to Combat Transnational Repression” signed by a number of States in March 2023 (see paragraph 14 above). 6. Conclusions 69. The head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov stated: “This modern age and technology allow us to know everything and we can find any of you, so don’t make it worse for yourselves.” This statement illustrates how authoritarian regimes think and how they implement their plans of transnational repression abroad. Transnational repression has become a common and institutionalised practice used by dozens of regimes to persecute dissenters outside their borders. Not only does it affect human rights of individuals fleeing persecution, but it also undermines democracy, the rule of law, and security in the countries where these people have found refuge. This phenomenon should be acknowledged and fought against, including by using the existing legal instruments and setting new standards for the member States of the Council of Europe. 70. There is neither a legal definition of transnational repression nor settled legal principles to fight this phenomenon. None of the democratic countries, including European States, has ever addressed the problem of transnational repression in a systematic fashion. There have been political statements, condemnations, expulsions of diplomats, and even economic sanctions following some notorious cases of transnational repression. However, the States concerned have acted in a reactive rather than proactive and systematic way. 71. It is undisputed that acts of transnational repression involve serious breaches of human rights, such as extra-judicial killings, targeted assassinations, enforced disappearances, kidnappings, and loss of lives following the use of dangerous substances and tools (radioactive materials, chemical weapons), etc. Acts of transnational repression run contrary to the principles of non-refoulement and the legality of deprivation of liberty. They are often associated with violations of privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, etc. 21