The report entitled `Freedom in the World’ was released yesterday and said that for the fourth consecutive year, global declines in freedom outweighed gains in 2009. In a statement, the Washington D.C.-based Freedom House said that this represents the longest continuous period of decline for global freedom in the nearly 40-year history of the report.
Guyana is one of the 89 countries that Freedom House labeled as ‘free’ in 2009. 58 countries were designated ‘partly free’ and 47 countries were ‘not free’. The number of electoral democracies fell from 119 to 116, the lowest since 1995. Guyana was rated at two under political rights and three under civil liberties, with one being the most free rating and seven being the least free.
Overall, Freedom House said, in a year marked by intensified repression against human rights defenders and civic activists, declines for freedom were registered in 40 countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union, representing 20 percent of the world’s total polities. Authoritarian states including Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and Vietnam became more repressive. Declines in freedom also occurred in countries that had registered positive trends in previous years, including Bahrain, Jordan, Kenya, and Kyrgyzstan.
“The news for 2009 is cause for real concern,” Arch Puddington, Freedom House Director of Research was quoted as saying. “The decline is global, affects countries with military and economic power, affects countries that had previously shown signs of reform potential, and is accompanied by enhanced persecution of political dissidents and independent journalists. To make matters worse, the most powerful authoritarian regimes have become more repressive, more influential in the international arena, and more uncompromising.”
This year’s findings reflect the growing pressures on journalists and new media, restrictions on freedom of association, and repression aimed at civic activists engaged in promoting political reform and respect for human rights. “In 2009, we saw a disturbing erosion of some of the most fundamental freedoms—freedom of expression and association—and an increase in attacks on frontline activists in these areas,” said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House. “From the brutal repression on the streets of Iran, to the sweeping detention of Charter 08 members in China and murders of journalists and human rights activists in Russia, we have seen a worldwide crackdown against individuals asserting their universally accepted rights over the last five years.”
‘Freedom in the World’, Freedom House’s flagship publication has been published annually since 1972.
