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Here is the report (opens pdf).

[…]

A new study commissioned by the European Parliament, which cites ICIJ’s China Targets investigation, details a set of policy recommendations for the European Union and its member states aimed at closing gaps in protection and accountability.

Chief among recommendations are the development of an EU-wide definition of transnational repression, the creation of an internal data collection and knowledge hub on the issue within the bloc, and strengthened communication channels between member states’ law enforcement agencies.

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The report recommends strengthening data protection clauses in EU laws, including identifying transnational repression as a “systemic risk” that regulated platforms are responsible for under the Digital Services Act. It also calls for more aggressive action to counter transnational repression, including visa bans, the expulsion of diplomats, and swifter mobilization of sanctions.

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The study highlights an uptick in transnational repression campaigns from China, Russia and Iran, echoing the findings of ICIJ’s April China Targets investigation, which exposed the sprawling scope of Beijing’s campaign to silence criticism abroad.

The investigation revealed how the Chinese government had misused international institutions like the United Nations and Interpol to target overseas dissidents, often without interference from democratic nations. Some of the 105 victims interviewed by ICIJ and its 42 media partners recalled family members being threatened, being doxxed, or having their bank accounts suspended.

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The report notes that, “compared to the actions taken against Russia and Iran, European responses to China’s use of transnational repression appear to have been weaker.”

That could in part be due to the close economic ties many countries have fostered with China, which have taken on new significance as trade with the U.S. grows volatile, said Emile Dirks, a co-author of the report and senior research associate at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.

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The study spotlit prominent incidents […] such as reports from Chinese and Uyghur activists that police intimidated their family members in China during Xi Jinping’s state visit to France in May 2024 to tamp down public demonstrations in Paris.

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“This is not an abstract issue,” Dirks said. “For many people, this is a human rights problem that they face day in and day out, and that failure to address this problem will have real human consequences for those individuals and their wider communities.”