18 Members of the European Parliament have submitted a formal written question on the 22 December 2021 to the European Commission on the question of foreign state reprisals occurring in Europe by countries such as China, Russia, Iran and Turkey. Through our Compromised Spaces campaign, the UNPO has been documenting the extent of this activity since 2016, starting with a project analysing reprisals against those seeking to engage with United Nations human rights mechanisms, and including an April 2021 report on the extent to which European Union mechanisms could be used in response.

This written question, which cites a UNPO report on the issue, is potentially a watershed moment in efforts to create a Europe-wide response to the endemic problem. Empshasing the importance of the issue, the question was submitted by, amongst others, the two Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament with human rights mandates, Heidi Hautala and Fabio Maassimo Castaldo, the Chair of the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, Raphaël Glucksmann, and members from across the European political spectrum. The signatories are members of a variety of both foreign affairs and internal affairs committees of the European Parliament, a unique moment in the recognition of the problem as both a foreign affairs and domestic security one. And the question itself included both an affirmation of the crimes that are being committed by China, Russia, Iran and Turkey within the European Union and a request for analysis of ther extent to which European Union law is being used to combat those crimes and protect human rights defenders living in the EU.

The European Commission now has six weeks in which to respond. The UNPO urges the European Commission to respond in detail and to take concerte measures to combat a problem that our analysis indicates is only growing but has been operating under the radar of European politics for too long. 

Below is the text of the written question.