DEFENDING DEMOCRACY IN EXILE Policy Responses to Transnational Repression Protecting Human Rights at International Organizations Security forces stand guard at the entrance of the United Nations building in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo credit: Juilliart/AFP via Getty Images. I 20 nternational organizations established in the post–World War II era were intended to facilitate cooperation among states in pursuit of peace and prosperity. As membershipbased entities that grant countries equal representation in most contexts, they created a level playing field for powers great and small. At the UN General Assembly, Eritrea’s vote holds the same weight as Canada’s. San Marino and Poland have equal standing before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). These organizations, through guiding documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Charter, also promoted a liberal international order in which state authority was constrained by the obligation to respect human rights and the rule of law. intimidated activists who testify about human rights abuses in international forums, and they have co-opted international mechanisms to detain or repatriate exiled dissidents. International organizations play a crucial role in documenting various types of human rights violations, but in the absence of an agreed framework for identifying these violations as tactics of transnational repression, the efforts of such bodies to combat the problem are disjointed and ad hoc. In fact, without a universally recognized prohibition against governments acting to silence critics outside their territories, international organizations will remain vulnerable to authoritarian manipulation. To facilitate their pursuit of critics and dissidents beyond their borders, autocrats are attempting to weaken human rights standards at international organizations. Nondemocratic governments have Interfering with activists at international organizations @FreedomHouse Governments that engage in transnational repression use harassment and intimidation to deter and silence critical #TransnationalRepression