Government Responses and Cautions Government Responses Some governments, such as Australia and the United States, have pursued policies to counter transnational repression. International organizations and concerned governments should take more measures to address the problem, while remaining cautious as to how such responses can raise serious human rights concerns themselves. The Australian government has responded to foreign interference and espionage, including the harassment, surveillance, and intimidation of diaspora communities, by passing legislation in 2018. This was largely in response to allegations of Chinese government interference in Australian domestic politics. Human Rights Watch documented the intimidation of the Chinese diaspora community in Australia, notably students and academics. In February 2023, the Australian Federal Police launched a new program that would advise Australian communities on what to do if they believe they are being threatened or intimidated by foreign governments. The program includes community liaisons to provide information and support to victims. In the United States, several parts of the government are focused on transnational repression. This includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which adopted a definition of transnational repression and trained staff at the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center on identifying cases. In 2021, the US Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, which included a provision titled “Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention” to counter governments’ use of Interpol for political purposes. Several other pieces of legislation include the Stop Transnational Repression Act, which proposes criminalizing transnational repression in the United States, and the Transnational Repression Policy Act, which aims “to hold foreign governments and individuals accountable when they stalk, intimidate, or assault people across borders, including in the United States.” Under existing US law, weapons cannot be transferred to any countries engaged in a consistent pattern of “acts of intimidation or harassment against individuals in the U.S.,” which creates a way to hold those responsible for transnational repression against people in the United States accountable. 39 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2024