AS/Jur (2023) 17 Federal Government, introduced12 the Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention (TRAP) Act (H.R. 4330) to address politically-motivated abuse of Interpol by autocracies, which passed as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act 2021.13 In July 2022, the Department of State circulated a Diplomatic Note to Chiefs of Missions in Washington DC to warn foreign diplomats against “targeting individuals… for peacefully exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms, through various forms of harassment, intimidation and, coercion.” At the close of 2022, US lawmakers also introduced a bill to codify and criminalise transnational repression: the Stop Transnational Repression Act would impose a maximum 10-year sentence for those convicted of the crime.14 According to Freedom House, these are positive steps in combatting transnational repression, although their credibility is undermined by bilateral relationships maintained with states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. 12. In the United Kingdom, responding to a report documenting the presence of three “unofficial Chinese police stations”, the government announced in November 2022 the creation of the Defending Democracy Taskforce. The purpose of this ministerial taskforce is to work across the government and with the intelligence community to protect the UK from transnational repression, among other foreign threats.15 In addition, the government has also taken other steps including amendments to the National Security Bill that would criminalise acts of coercion, harassment, and intimidation that are linked to a foreign government and increase sentences for existing criminal acts if they are undertaken for or on behalf of a foreign power. The government has also proposed the creation of a Foreign Influence Registration Scheme that would require organisations and individuals to register with the secretary of state if they plan to engage in “political influence” activities directed by a foreign power.16 13. In response to the growing phenomenon of repression, the European Parliament commissioned a paper on the use of politically-motivated Interpol Red Notices, which concluded that ”together with other international institutions, [the European Parliament] have addressed the misuse of Interpol Red Notices and diffusion orders and in particular the politically motivated misuse on a continuous basis“. Yet even following internal reforms of Interpol, including the appointment of a Data Protection Officer, “reports of misuse continue to be detected”.17 According to Freedom House, “Interpol abuse is the most well-understood form of transnational repression within the international system”. It is a form of co-optation, in which origin countries instrumentalise Interpol’s notification mechanisms in order to manipulate a host country. 18 14. More recently (March 2023), the governments of Australia, Germany, Estonia, Kosovo*19, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovak Republic and the United States signed a “Declaration of Principles to Combat Transnational Repression”. According to this declaration, “transnational repression is a threat to democracy and human rights worldwide”. The signatories of this declaration committed to: increase awareness of the threat of transnational repression for officials, including border enforcement, immigration, cybersecurity, and law enforcement personnel; increase outreach to potential targets of transnational repression, in coordination with civil society, to alert potential targets to threats, inform of their rights, and explain how to report incidents; establish clear procedures for the public to report to relevant domestic authorities attacks, threats or harassment by foreign states or acts; ensure that domestic laws provide officials with the authority and tools needed to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of transnational repression; ensure that human rights activists and civil society organisations have access to international forums where they can share their experiences and raise awareness of the threat of transnational repression; increase accountability for perpetrators of transnational 12 Helsinki Commission Leaders Introduce Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention (TRAP) Act | CSCE , 12 September 2019. 13 Helsinki Commission Welcomes Passage of Trap Provision in 2022 National Defense Authorization Act | CSCE , 15 December 2021. 14 Democrats want to prevent attacks on dissidents living in the US - Coda Story 15 Ministerial Taskforce meets to tackle state threats to UK democracy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 16 Overseas Chinese Police Stations in UK: Legal Status - Hansard - UK Parliament. Foreign Influence Registration Scheme factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 17 R. H. Wandall, Ensuring the rights of EU citizens against politically motivated Red Notices | Think Tank | European Parliament (europa.eu), 1 February 2022. See also the following reports of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: “Interpol reform and extradition proceedings: building trust by fighting abuse”, Doc. 14997, dated 15 October 2019 (rapporteur: Mr Aleksander Pociej, Poland, EPP/CD) and “Abusive use of the Interpol system: the need for more stringent legal safeguards”, Doc. 14277, dated 29 March 2017 (rapporteur: Mr Bernd Fabritius, Germany, Group of the European People’s Party). 18 Freedom House, Y. Gorokhovskaia and I. Linzer, Defending Democracy in Exile: Policy Responses to Transnational Repression (2022). 19 All references to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo. 9