Nicaragua, China, India Among 55 Nations Limiting Freedom of Movement

Nicaragua, China, India, and 52 other countries are imposing restrictions on freedom of movement, raising significant concerns about human rights. These limitations affect citizens' mobility and have broader implications for international relations and global travel. The trend reflects increasing control over population movements, with potential consequences for civil liberties and the freedom to travel across borders.

Over the past decade, at least 55 governments have restricted the freedom of movement for individuals they view as threats, including journalists, according to a Freedom House report released last Thursday.

The report found that governments use tactics like travel bans, revoking citizenship, document control, and denial of consular services to punish and coerce critics. These measures aim to silence opposition, says Jessica White, the report's London-based co-author. "This tactic highlights the vindictive and punitive nature of certain countries," White said, adding that such repression is an effort to suppress individuals' ability to speak out freely from any location.

Countries like Belarus, China, India, Nicaragua, Russia, Rwanda, and Saudi Arabia are identified as engaging in this type of repression. Freedom House's findings are partly based on interviews with over 30 people affected by mobility restrictions. Travel bans are the most common tactic, with Freedom House identifying at least 40 governments that prevent citizens from leaving or returning to their country.

Another method is revoking citizenship, despite international law prohibiting it. In 2023, Nicaragua stripped over 200 political prisoners of their citizenship shortly after deporting them to the United States. One such individual is Juan Lorenzo Holmann, head of Nicaragua's oldest newspaper, La Prensa. "It's as if I no longer exist. This is another violation of my human rights," he told VOA after his release. "But they can't erase a person's identity. The Nicaraguan constitution states that personal records and nationality cannot be taken away. I still feel Nicaraguan, and they can't take that away from me."

Before his expulsion, Holmann had spent 545 days in prison in what was widely considered a politically motivated case. Blocking access to passports and other travel documents is another tactic. For instance, in June, Hong Kong canceled the passports of six pro-democracy activists living in exile in Britain. In some cases, governments refuse to issue passports to trap individuals within the country. If the individual is already abroad, embassies may deny passport renewals, preventing them from traveling anywhere, including back home.

An example of this is Myanmar's embassy in Berlin, which refused to renew the passport of Ma Thida, a Burmese writer exiled in Germany. Earlier this year, Ma Thida told VOA she believes this is retaliation for her writing. White described Ma Thida's case as a typical example of mobility restrictions. While the German government issued her a special passport for those unable to obtain one from their home country, White noted that such assistance is still rare.

"Our ability to freely leave and return to our home country is often taken for granted in democratic societies. It's a fundamental human right that is being undermined and violated in many parts of the world," White said. Mobility restrictions can have severe consequences, making it difficult to work, travel, and visit family. The emotional toll is especially significant, according to White. "There is a profound psychological impact," White noted. "Many of our interviewees mentioned the pain of being separated from family members and the inability to return to their country."

In the report, Freedom House urged democratic governments to impose sanctions on those involved in mobility controls. White also called for democratic governments to do more to assist dissidents, including providing alternative travel documents when they cannot obtain them from their home countries.

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Source: globalissues‍