"Joint Statement by United Nations Human Rights Experts on Transnational Repression" 23 September 2026

All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. They apply to every person, everywhere, and do not end at States’ borders...

Transnational repression refers to measures taken by States, both within and outside their territories, to silence, deter, punish, coerce, control or harm in any other way, individuals, groups and communities abroad on the basis of their real or perceived opinions or beliefs, identity or action, including dissent, or exercise, defence, or advocacy for human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law...

Such repression may target individuals, groups and communities directly or indirectly, and disproportionately affects, inter alia, members of diaspora communities, migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons, as well as human rights defenders, civil society organizations, social movements, journalists, media workers, lawyers, dissidents, students, academics, artists, trade unionists...

By creating fear across borders, transnational repression has profound consequences not only for those directly targeted, their families and communities...

These include, among others, extrajudicial killings, all forms of torture or ill-treatment, physical attacks, enforced disappearances, threats and harassment (including sexual and gender-based violence and harassment), criminalization, abductions, arbitrary detention, and arbitrary expulsion...

We also recognize that transnational repression has adverse impacts on the physical, mental, and social and economic well-being of individuals affected, including family members, relatives, and others with a close relationship, resulting in some cases in the loss of livelihood and property, and generating self-isolation and in some cases ‘civil death’ through the deprivation of legal identity.

States have a duty to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights, both online and offline, without discrimination....

Transnational repression represents a growing challenge to the international human rights system and to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations itself. Addressing it requires coordinated, rights-based and victim-centered responses grounded in international law, the principle of accountability, international cooperation and meaningful participation by affected individuals, groups and communities.