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Highlights of Freedom in the World
The Arab Middle East continues to be the least free, most repressive region. Of the 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, only one is “Free.” More than three-fourths (78 percent) are “Not Free.”
In Russia political murders went unsolved in 2009 and are being committed with impunity, for example, human rights advocate Natalya Estemirova. “Electoral abuses, declining religious freedom, and the repeated use of political terror” are cited as the reason for Russia’s slide downward.
In the Philippines, the massacre of 57 journalists, lawyers, and other civilians in one incident was shocking. The killings in the Philippines stood out in a year where there were attacks and killings of journalists in large numbers in Russia, Pakistan, Mexico, and Somalia.
China vigorously pursues “new forms of Internet control and cracking down on bloggers and Internet journalists,” says the report. China acts “as if it were under siege by its own citizens.” The report criticizes communist China in 2009 for the long prison sentence given to democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo and others, and its persecution of lawyers representing defendants in politically sensitive cases.
China “badgered” foreign countries to return Uyghurs seeking asylum abroad. Pakistan and Cambodia repatriated Uyghurs, who face certain incarceration, if not torture and execution.
Intolerant of regime critics, China made threats to foreigners holding cultural exhibits in Germany, Australia, South Korea, and Bangladesh to disallow their participation.
Western Europe is nearly universally “Free,” with 1 out of 25 countries (4 percent) “Partly Free,” and none ‘Not Free.’ The region’s tradition of tolerance was put to the test over disputes on the rights of Muslims, such as the building of mosques and minarets, the wearing of head scarves and burqas, and so on. Some political parties capitalize on anti-immigrant attitudes. Freedom House marked down Switzerland when its citizens voted to ban the construction of minarets.
The good news in the report was the countries in the Western Balkans and in the Asia Pacific region. Modest gains were made in Asia, where especially India, Indonesia, and Japan show a resilience, despite the world’s largest authoritarian government in their midst. Kosovo in the Balkans rose from “Not Free” to “Partly Free,” after concluding a successful election and providing greater recognition of minority rights. Advances were also made in Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro.
Not all repression comes from governments. Freedom House makes clear that non-state actors, such as religious extremists and drug lords, can violate civil liberties of minorities. “Violent Islamic extremism prevailed in Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.” Organized drug trafficking contributed to corruption in Afghanistan, and parts of Central America and Africa, says the report.
