Transnational Repression: Trends and Policy Approaches
Hearing Notice
Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on trends in transnational repression and potential policy approaches to addressing this problem.
Transnational repression is receiving growing interest from policymakers and attention from researchers who monitor its expansion. The Department of Justice defines transnational repression (TNR) as a “range of tactics that foreign governments employ to reach beyond their borders to harm, intimidate, threaten, harass, or coerce individuals. Targeted victims of transnational repression often include political dissidents and activists, journalists, political opponents, religious and ethnic minority groups, and members of diaspora and exile communities.”
Transnational repression constitutes human rights violations that cross borders. It can be direct, through killings, abductions, enforced disappearances, and unlawful removals, or indirect, through tactics such as online harassment, digital surveillance, targeting of relatives, and the abuse of consular services. Thus, TNR can implicate human rights abuses by creating a chilling effect on individuals’ abilities to exercise their rights of freedom of expression and association. TNR can be done by government officials but also by non-state actors like political parties and proxies located in other countries.
This hearing will examine new developments and trends since the Commission’s last hearing on TNR in February 2024, including the use of financial institutions to try to silence criticism and dissent. The hearing will assess multilateral efforts to develop common definitions and coordinate responses, and how other governments are crafting institutional approaches to addressing TNR. It will also look at particular country cases, such as Pakistan, India, Hong Kong and China.
The hearing will be held in person and is open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, the media and the public. The public and the media may attend in person or view the hearing by live webcast on the Commission website. For questions, please contact Todd Stein (for Co-Chair McGovern) or Mark Milosch (for Co-Chair Smith).
Hosted by:
James P. McGovern Member of Congress Co-Chair, TLHRC | Chris Smith Member of Congress Co-Chair, TLHRC |
Opening Remarks
James P. McGovern, Co-Chair, TLHRC
Written remarksChris Smith, Co-Chair, TLHRC
Witnesses
- Yana Gorokhovskaia, Research Director for Strategy and Design, Freedom House
Witness testimony - Lyudmyla Kozlovska, President, Open Dialogue Foundation
Witness testimony - Ahmad Noorani, Editor, Fact Focus
Witness testimony - Ria Chakrabarty, Senior Policy Director, Hindus for Human Rights
Witness testimony - Joey Siu, Spokesperson, Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas
Witness testimony - Paulo Figueiredo, Investigative Journalist
Witness testimony
Submitted for the Record
- Dr. Bakhshish Singh Sandhu, Sikhs for Justice, Statement Submitted for the Record
- Community Alliance for Peace and Justice, Statement Submitted for the Record
- Frances Hui, Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, Statement Submitted for the Record
- Graham West, Mannirmal Kaur, and Harjot Singh, The Sikh Coalition, Statement Submitted for the Record
- Héctor Silva Ávalos, journalist, Statement Submitted for the Record
- Indian American Muslim Council, Statement Submitted for the Record
- Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) USA, Statement Submitted for the Record
- Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights briefing paper, Transnational Repression
- G7 leaders' statement on transnational repression, June 17, 2025
- Levi Browde, Falun Dafa Information Center, Statement Submitted for the Record
- Ogechukwu Nkere, Political and Human Rights Activist, Statement Submitted for the Record
Video
Additional Materials
- Indian American Muslim Council, Transnational Repression: Modi Regime's Targeting of Critics in the United States, June 18, 2025
- Hong Kong Democracy Council and Students for a Free Tibet, "Exporting Repression: Attacks on Protesters During Xi Jinping’s Visit to San Francisco in November 2023," July 2024