Silencing Civil Society: Transnational Repression of NGOs

Executive Summary

While violent forms of transnational repression receive significant attention, an increasing number of authoritarian and democratically backsliding states are deploying legal and administrative tools to repress activists in exile. These strategies include indicting diaspora organizations on charges of terrorism and extremism, revoking citizenship and travel permits, freezing assets, charging activists with crimes in absentia, and pressuring host countries to deport exiled activists. While international institutions and donors have attempted to document and respond to violent forms of transnational repression, host country governments have yet to take decisive action that holds perpetrators of legal or administrative repression to account and  disincentivizes such forms of repression. International organizations and host governments must take more urgent action to develop comprehensive reporting mechanisms, utilize existing legal protections and targeted sanctions to hold perpetrator states accountable, prioritize preventive measures for diaspora activists and organizations, create emergency response services, and build sustainable funding models for diaspora organizations facing transnational threats.

Policy Recommendations

For the U.N. and Member States

• Prioritize emergency funding for activists in exile that includes money for digital security training, legal and immigration assistance, and social and psychological support.
• Establish an official definition of transnational repression.
• Develop specific schemes facilitating access to visas for exiled activists facing the threat of transnational repression whose families may still be in countries of origin.
• Establish a Special Rapporteur for Transnational Repression.

For Private Donors

• Prioritize flexible funding models.

For Congress and the State Department

• Use evidence and recommendations prepared by human rights treaty bodies and Special Procedures mechanisms.
• Reinstate refugee resettlement programs back to prior levels with an aim to protect activists at risk of transnational repression.
• Use targeted sanctions against perpetrators of transnational repression.
• Ensure consistent reporting in the State Department’s Human Rights Reports.

For NGOs and Activists

• Continue to document instances of transnational repression to identify gaps in policy responses.
• Make resources on digital and physical safety widely accessible to at-risk activists, reaching those beyond living in cities or working for prominent organizations.