DEFENDING DEMOCRACY IN EXILE Policy Responses to Transnational Repression Ensuring accountability While strengthening protections for targeted individuals is crucial to protecting human rights and freedoms—and making America a safer place for activists and political exiles—the ultimate defense against spreading authoritarianism is to raise the cost of repression. On this front, the United States has an opportunity to lead the world’s response. One way to do so is by deploying targeted sanctions against perpetrators of transnational repression. In February 2021, the US government announced the Khashoggi Ban, a measure that allows the State Department to impose visa restrictions on individuals who “directly engage in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities, including those that suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm journalists, activists, or other persons perceived to be dissidents.” 55 The policy came as a response to the 2018 murder in Istanbul of Jamal Khashoggi, a US permanent resident, journalist, and vocal critic of Saudi authorities, by Saudi agents at the direction The ultimate defense against spreading authoritarianism is to raise the cost of repression. of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Authority for the Khashoggi Ban is derived from Section 212 (a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows for the denial of a visa in cases where an individual’s entry to the country could have potentially serious adverse foreign policy impacts for the United States. Though the authorities granted by this provision are longstanding, the Khashoggi Ban established, for the first time, a clear link between acts targeting dissidents across borders and a foreign policy meant to address them.56 The ban has subsequently been applied to Belarusian officials for extraterritorial, counterdissident activities. It is important to note that the government is not permitted to publicly share the names of those subjected to this ban, reducing its visibility and deterrent effect.57 An even stronger visa ban option is the authority provided in Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Acts. This authority allows visa bans against foreign government officials, and their family members, when there is credible information 10 @FreedomHouse that the official is directly or indirectly involved with significant corruption or gross violations of human rights. This authority allows the US government to publicly name sanctioned individuals. Sanctions programs that allow for both visa bans and asset freezes can be even more effective tools. The United States should deploy these stronger options against perpetrators of transnational repression whenever possible. This includes certain country-specific programs as well as the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. §§ 10101-10103 (2022)), which, as implemented by Executive Order 13818, allows visa bans and asset freezes on individuals who are responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse or corruption. Beyond their practical effects, sanctions are highly visible methods of accountability that signal a strong rebuke to transnational repression. Members of the Saudi diaspora interviewed by Freedom House felt that the failure to sanction Mohammed bin Salman following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi sent a message of impunity that had negative consequences for them personally: “MBS was not forgiven, but he was not sanctioned. He was not included. Right after that, things quickly changed for us…it seemed like there was a reaction from the Saudi government that, okay, there’s no consequences. We can do whatever we want.” 58 Assessing the costs of security cooperation Building a robust response to authoritarianism means recognizing and acknowledging that countries that are US security partners engage in transnational repression, including on US soil. The focus of efforts to ensure accountability cannot be limited to adversaries like the ruling regimes of Iran, China, and Russia. Targets of transnational repression often view ongoing cooperation between the United States and authoritarian states as tacit endorsement of abuse. Claude Gatebuke, who has been harassed by Rwandan officials, observed: “I think the US should stop supporting Rwanda…Basically, I’m paying taxes, part of it is contributing to my potential assassination, so I think we should stop financing the government of Rwanda and providing military assistance.” To signal a commitment to stopping transnational repression, the United States should reassess existing security training programs offered directly or indirectly to agents of countries that have a documented track record of committing human rights abuses. For example, reporting #TransnationalRepression