// BORDER SECURITY: TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
As authoritarian regimes extend repression beyond their borders, democracies face a growing challenge to protect exiles, uphold the rule of law and defend the integrity of their own systems Confronting transnational repression: a necessity for democracies
I n November 2025, the European Parliament adopted, by a broad majority, the first report in its his- tory dedicated to countering the transnational repression of human rights defenders. As rapporteur, I am pleased that the European Union has at last decided to name this phenom- enon for the first time, and to do so on the basis of a common European defi- nition. Transnational repression refers to the acts of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, coercion, threats or vio- lence committed by a state, directly or through its proxies, beyond its borders,
they escaped continued to pursue them here, sometimes into their own homes. Their testimony directly informed the text we adopted. AN EXPANDING THREAT The phenomenon is expanding rapidly, yet the data available to us remains very incomplete. To this day, there is no European mechanism dedicated to recording incidents of transnational repression, and we continue to rely largely on the work of civil society and independent researchers. Even so, what we already know is alarming: a quar-
against individuals or groups perceived as critical of it. While preparing this report, my team and I met dozens of victims of transnational repression who had sought refuge on European soil: jour- nalists, defenders, activists and ordinary citizens who had fled perse- cution only to find that the regimes Chloé Ridel, member, European Parliament; member, Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Human Rights
132 // G7 FRANCE: THE ÉVIAN SUMMIT 2026
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