PARIS, Feb 22: Governments around the world are "reaching beyond their borders" to attack their own citizens abroad in order to crush dissent, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, urging more protection for them.
The New York-based rights group said so-called "transnational repression" was having a "chilling effect" on political criticism and called on countries and international organisations to take action.
"Methods... include killings, abductions, unlawful removals, abuse of consular services, the targeting and collective punishment of relatives, and digital attacks," an HRW report said.
Some governments have abused the Interpol alert system to "illegitimately target a national living abroad".
The report details 75 cases of governments in more than two dozen countries -- including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Belarus and Cambodia -- carrying out "human rights abuses... to silence or deter dissent" over the past 15 years. —AFP
