Are We There Yet?
Nope, not nearly. The struggle continues. We're falling behind, actually. The noble experiment in freedom from repression, oppression, tyranny and belligerence is faltering.
The democracy watchdog group Freedom House, in publishing its latest report, Freedom in the World 2010, regretfully advises that in the dance toward the universal exercise in advancing human rights, we have regressed. Instead of taking two steps forward to one step backward, we have been mired in one step forward, two steps backward. And we seem to be stuck there.
Since 1972, the group has published its survey assessing its view of "free", "partly free", or "not free" countries out of the 194 countries and 14 territories under the scrutiny of their human rights microscope. The study reveals that 45% of the world's population lives in 89 "free" countries, while 30% live in 58 "partly free" countries.
And of the 2.3 billion people in the 47 countries in the "not free" category, 50% reside in China, whose government "behaves as it if were under siege by its own citizens". In the bad news category, the authoritarian regimes listed as China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela succumbed to greater repressiveness in the last year.
The most repressive region in the world remained the Middle East, with the exception of Israel, listed as "free", and where Lebanon and Iraq registered as having improved. Jordan and Morocco, the publication pointed out, saw some setbacks from moderate to questionable.
But it is in Africa specifically where set-backs to freedom have proliferated through coups in Guinea, Madagascar and Niger, and Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia have slid backward. In Asia, "competitive and fair" elections took place in India, Indonesia and Japan. And political rights were advanced in Bangladesh, the Maldives, Mongolia and Indian- and Pakistani- Kashmir.
Heightened political violence in the Philippines was noted, along with the "deeply flawed" presidential election in Afghanistan. Canada was praised for its supreme court decision respecting modified conditions for prosecution of libel or defamation.
The democracy watchdog group Freedom House, in publishing its latest report, Freedom in the World 2010, regretfully advises that in the dance toward the universal exercise in advancing human rights, we have regressed. Instead of taking two steps forward to one step backward, we have been mired in one step forward, two steps backward. And we seem to be stuck there.
Since 1972, the group has published its survey assessing its view of "free", "partly free", or "not free" countries out of the 194 countries and 14 territories under the scrutiny of their human rights microscope. The study reveals that 45% of the world's population lives in 89 "free" countries, while 30% live in 58 "partly free" countries.
And of the 2.3 billion people in the 47 countries in the "not free" category, 50% reside in China, whose government "behaves as it if were under siege by its own citizens". In the bad news category, the authoritarian regimes listed as China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela succumbed to greater repressiveness in the last year.
The most repressive region in the world remained the Middle East, with the exception of Israel, listed as "free", and where Lebanon and Iraq registered as having improved. Jordan and Morocco, the publication pointed out, saw some setbacks from moderate to questionable.
But it is in Africa specifically where set-backs to freedom have proliferated through coups in Guinea, Madagascar and Niger, and Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia have slid backward. In Asia, "competitive and fair" elections took place in India, Indonesia and Japan. And political rights were advanced in Bangladesh, the Maldives, Mongolia and Indian- and Pakistani- Kashmir.
Heightened political violence in the Philippines was noted, along with the "deeply flawed" presidential election in Afghanistan. Canada was praised for its supreme court decision respecting modified conditions for prosecution of libel or defamation.
Labels: Crisis Politics, Human Relations, World News
posted by Pieface | 6:56 PM
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