Transnational Repression: 2019 – 2024
Join us to explore how authoritarian regimes target women journalists in the West and the growing threat of transnational repression to press freedom organized by CFWIJ, in collaboration with PDI at the University of Ottawa.
Women Press Freedom identifies transnational repression as a significant threat to journalists who have fled authoritarian regimes, highlighting the increased use of tactics like surveillance, harassment, and violence to silence dissent beyond national borders.
These measures aim to intimidate journalists into self-censorship, even in supposedly safe countries. 50% of exiled women journalists targeted through transnational repression reside in the EU.
Women Press Freedom continues to document these violations, stressing the urgent need for international protections to ensure freedom of expression and safety for journalists globally.
Transnational Repression 2024
Overview
In 2024, Women Press Freedom has documented 67 cases of transnational repression aimed at silencing women journalists, a sharp increase from 19 cases reported in all of 2023. Most of the targeted live in Europe, with two in the United States. These violations were committed by Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Iran, Turkiye, Ethiopia, Malaysia, and Venezuela, countries known for authoritarian governance and repression of the free press. Tactics included legal harassment, threats, intimidation, and denial of access to suppress independent journalism.
While many violations were legislative, countries like Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia have a history of physical assaults, abductions, and assassination attempts against exiled journalists. Women Press Freedom warns that transnational repression against women journalists is escalating, with host countries often unprepared to protect them. Journalists who have fled persecution should not face further harassment in their new homes.
Countries offering refuge must ensure these journalists' safety. Governments, especially in the EU and the US, should implement robust asylum policies to protect against foreign harassment and provide legal support for those facing unjust charges. Host countries must also investigate claims of transnational repression, including assassination attempts and threats, prosecute those responsible, and impose sanctions on offending nations.
Top Perpetrators of Transnational Repression
More than 50% of exiled women journalists targeted through transnational repression reside in the EU.
Transnational Violations - Reports
Women Press Freedom stands resolutely in solidarity with Arzu Yıldız, an investigative journalist from Turkiye forced into exile after facing persistent threats and persecution for her work. Yıldız's experience is emblematic of the broader crackdown on press freedom under President Tayyip Erdoğan's regime, where dissent is aggressively stifled. We unequivocally condemn the targeting and persecution of journalists by President Tayyip Erdoğan's government.
WPF is alarmed that the well-known journalist is facing issues traveling due to the Kremlin’s concerted and unjust transnational repression tactics
WPF condemns the sentencing of Ukrainian TV presenter Natalia Moseychuk to five years in prison by a Moscow court, in yet another transnational repression attack on press freedom.
WPF condemns the Kremlin’s relentless legal harassment of exiled journalists under “foreign agent” law.
Elizaveta Surnacheva is now facing a second prosecution for failing to comply with the reporting requirements imposed on those labeled as “foreign agents.”
Exiled journalist Lyudmila Savitskaya has been subjected to continuous legal and financial harassment by the Russian regime, WPF is worryingly documenting.
WPF strongly condemns the ongoing persecution of journalists by the Russian government, which continues to label independent news outlets as “undesirable.”
WPF strongly denounces this transnational repression and calls on the international community to stand in solidarity with Taratuta and other exiled journalists who remain vulnerable to state-sanctioned reprisals from Russia for continuing to report.
Russian-US journalist and author Masha Gessen was convicted in absentia by a Moscow court on charges of spreading false information about the military.
The Kremlin has initiated yet another deplorable attack on press freedom by opening an administrative case against exiled journalist Yulia Latynina.
The Interior Ministry issues arrest warrants for at least 13 women and non-binary journalists.
Court arrests Lazareva in absentia following search warrant by Ministry of Internal Affairs. The renowned journalist is unjustly accused of justifying terrorism.
WPF vehemently condemns the recent decision by a St. Petersburg court to label the journalist couple Lydia Nevzorova and Aleksandr Nevzorov as an “extremist union.”
WPF denounces additional fines slapped on Baranova for “failure to comply with foreign agent law”
WPF unequivocally condemns the Kremlin’s persistent and cynical use of transnational repression to silence dissenting voices, both domestically and abroad.
Arrested in absentia, journalist Ekaterina Fomina faces charges for disseminating "fakes" about the Russian army — a clear retaliation against her investigative reporting, which exposed a Russian soldier's confession to murder in Ukraine.
WPF stands in unwavering solidarity with Ximena Borrazás, a freelance journalist and photographer based in Barcelona, who has faced a torrent of online harassment following her reports on the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia.
WPF condemns in the strongest terms the recent actions taken by Rosfinmonitorin in designating journalists Maria Menshikova and Anna Loiko as “terrorists and extremists.”
WPF vehemently condemns the ongoing harassment and intimidation by Turkish authorities against Sevinç Özarslan, a Turkish journalist forced into exile in Germany.
WPF denounces the administrative charges brought against Svetlana Reiter, an award-winning investigative journalist, for her association with the media outlet Meduza.
WPF staunchly condemns the unjust fines imposed on exiled journalist Aleksandra Ageyeva for purported breaches of Russia's draconian "foreign agents" law.
Exiled journalist Maria Menshikova is being charged with “terrorism” for a second time for reporting on resistance to Russia’s war in Ukraine for media outlet DOXA.
WPF stands unwaveringly with Perihan Kaya, an exiled journalist facing retrial in Turkiye on unfounded terrorism charges.
WPF condemns the ongoing persecution of Yevgenia Baltatarova by the Russian government. Baltatarova, a Russian journalist forced to live in exile, has endured relentless scrutiny and harassment for her reporting.
WPF condemns the Russian government's recent imposition of personal sanctions on more than 200 American citizens, including government employees, academics, and notably, journalists — citing what it perceives as unjustified and hostile actions by the United States government.
WPF expresses deep concern over the alarming and aggressive rhetoric employed by Member of Parliament Zahid Oruc towards prominent US-based journalist Sevinj Osmanqizi and her fellow exiled colleagues from Azerbaijan.
WPF strongly condemns the Kremlin’s persistent efforts to target and harass journalists and activists in exile.
The sentencing of Clare Rewcastle-Brown by a Malay court to two years in prison in absentia, for defaming the queen consort Sultanah Nur Zahirah of Terengganu, is deeply troubling.
CFWIJ and WPF expresses deep concern over the ongoing harassment and intimidation faced by exiled Azerbaijani journalists currently living in Georgia.