WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (IPS) – At least 55 governments have restricted the movement of people, including journalists, over the past decade, according to a report by Freedom House released last Thursday.
Governments are controlling freedom of movement through travel bans, citizenship revocations, document checks and denial of consular services, the report found. All tactics are designed to coerce and punish critics of the government, said Jessica White, the report’s London-based co-author.
“This is a tactic that really shows the vengeful and punitive nature of some countries,” White said. This form of repression “is an attempt to really suppress the ability of people to express themselves freely, wherever they are.”
Belarus, China, India, Nicaragua, Russia, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia are among the countries engaged in this form of repression, the report found. Freedom House based its findings in part on interviews with more than 30 people affected by mobility controls.
Travel bans are the most common tactic, White said. Freedom House has identified at least 40 governments that prevent citizens from leaving or returning to their countries.
Revoking citizenship is another strategy, despite being prohibited by international law. The Nicaraguan government revoked the citizenship of more than 200 political prisoners in 2023, shortly after deporting them to the United States.
Among them was Juan Lorenzo Holmannhead of Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, La Prensa. “It’s like I don’t exist anymore. It’s another attack on my human rights,” he told VOA after he was released. “But you can’t take away a person’s personality. The Nicaraguan constitution says you can’t erase a person’s personal data or take away their nationality. I feel Nicaraguan, and they can’t take that away from me.”
Before Lorenzo was expelled from his own country, he spent 545 days in prison. The case was widely seen as politically motivated.
Blocking access to passports and other travel documents is another tactic. In one example, Hong Kong in June cancelled the passports of six pro-democracy activists living in exile in Britain.
In some cases, governments refuse to issue passports in order to keep them locked up in the country. And in cases where the person is already abroad, embassies refuse to grant passport renewals in order to prevent the person from traveling anywhere, including back home.
For example, Myanmar’s embassy in Berlin has refused to renew the passport of Ma Thida, a Burmese writer exiled in Germany. Ma Thida told VOA earlier this year that she believes the refusal is retaliation for her writings.
White said Ma Thida’s case was a classic example of mobility restrictions. For now, the German government has issued a passport reserved for people who cannot obtain a passport from their home country — which White welcomed, but said is still rare.
“Our ability to leave and return to our homeland freely is something that people in democratic societies often take for granted. It is one of our fundamental human rights, yet it is one that is being undermined and violated in many parts of the world,” White said.
Restrictions on mobility can have devastating consequences, including making it difficult to work, travel and visit family. Making matters worse is the emotional toll, White said.
“There is a huge psychological impact,” White said. “A lot of our interviewees mention the pain of being separated from family members and not being able to return to their country.”
In the report, Freedom House calls on democratic governments to impose sanctions on actors that carry out mobility controls.
White said democratic governments should do more to help dissidents, including by providing them with alternative travel documents if they cannot obtain them in their home countries.
https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/FIW_2024_DigitalBooklet.pdf
Source: Voice of America (VOA)
IPS UN Office
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
