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NEW REPORT: Authoritarians Tighten Controls on Freedom of Movement as Part of a Growing Repression Toolkit to Stifle Dissent Worldwide [1]
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Date: 2024-08
The four main tactics for restricting mobility are revoking citizenship, controlling access to key documents, denying consular services, and imposing travel bans.
Revoking citizenship was used by the governments of seven of the 55 countries in an effort to punish citizens for political activism or dissent, rendering many of the victims stateless. In 2023, Daniel Ortega’s regime in Nicaragua deported 222 political prisoners to the United States. Soon afterward, a Nicaraguan court ordered the former prisoners’ citizenship to be revoked and their property confiscated.
Controlling access to key documents, such as passports, was a tactic used by the governments of at least 38 countries. In 2023, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the government of Turkey had violated the rights of three academics in 2016 by canceling their passports after they signed an Academics for Peace petition.
Denying consular services was used by the governments of at least 12 of the 55 countries, and it typically includes manipulating passport renewal processes or preventing access to birth and marriage certificates for citizens living abroad. In 2023, the government of Belarus issued a presidential decree forbidding Belarusian consulates from offering passport renewal services. The order endangered approximately 300,000 Belarusians living abroad, as many are at risk of being imprisoned should they return to the country.
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[1] Url:
https://freedomhouse.org/article/new-report-authoritarians-tighten-controls-freedom-movement-part-growing-repression-toolkit
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