23. 01. 2014

BALKAN COUNTRIES PARTLY FREE AND FREE

Belgrade, January 23, 2014. (Beta) - Organization for the promotion of democracy and human rights, Freedom House, ranked the Balkans countries as partly free and free countries in the most recent report on political rights and civil liberties. Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia are free, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia partly free. According to a report published on 23 January, the state of the world with regard to freedoms has deteriorated in 2013, the eighth year in a row. In the past year, according to Freedom House, 88 countries or 45 % were free, 59 or 38 % partly free, and 48 or 25 % were not free.

In the Freedom House report countries are graded from one to seven - one indicates the highest degree of freedom and seven represents the lowest level of freedom.

Serbia has a rating of two for political rights and civil liberties, Croatia one for political rights and two for civil liberties, Slovenia has an overall rating of one, three for Montenegro for political rights and two for civil liberties, while B-H and Macedonia are evaluated in both areas with threes.

Kosovo was rated  with a five for political rights and four for civil liberties.

Partly free countries are those countries with limited respect for political rights and civil liberties. They suffer from corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious conflicts and political environment in which one party is dominant, despite a certain degree of pluralism.

Free countries are those in which there is political competition, where there is respects for civil rights and civil liberties, and countries with independent media.

Countries that are not free are those lacking basic political rights, and where civil liberties are systematically violated.

THE NEGATIVE TREND IN THE WORLD IN 2013

The Freedom House report number 41, notes that in 54 countries in the past year there was a decline of political rights and civil liberties, while in 40 countries growth was recorded. The negative trend was influenced by the military coup in Egypt, consolidation of the authoritarian rule in Venezuela and the crackdown on opposition groups in Russia, the report points out.

The decline of civil liberties and the rights in 2013 was also due to the civil wars and acts of terrorism in Syria, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Yemen, is said by the international organization.

Freedom House expressed concern about a new trend it named "modern authoritarianism." It is explained that this trend appears in the form of false democracies in which the ruling party or ruling class disables the opposition, controls the media and obstructs civil society, while not destroying or banning them.

In addition, elections that are held are nominally free and fair, but always benefit the ruling structures. Freedom House as examples of "modern authoritarianism " named last year's elections in Zimbabwe , Venezuela and Ecuador.

The organization also points to the influence of the Russian government on television stations in that country and the recent shutdown of the independent news agency RIA Novosti, which is said to have joined the national public service Russia Today.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has also taken control of the media and has censored the opposition candidates, noted Freedom House.

The organization added that China has increased pressure on the media by delaying or refusing to issue visas to foreign reporters who write about human rights violations or the business interests of Chinese leaders and their families .

Turkey  is said to have made ​​a disturbing example by arresting journalists, imprisoning more people than any other country, and pressuring the media to sell their shares to the associates of the authorities.

 Freedom House states that the political stalemate that has existed between President Barack Obama and his opponents in US Congress from the Republican Party hampered the reaction of the United States to events in the Middle East.

The organization also cited the uproar regarding wiretapping and data collection conducted by the American  National Security Agency ( NSA ), which was published by former NSA employee Edward Snowden.

Among the positive trends it is stated that in 2013 the number of representative democracies has risen to 122, as that group of countries was joined by Honduras, Kenya, Nepal and Pakistan.

Among positive trends are improving civil liberties in Tunisia, the successful elections and peaceful change of government in Pakistan, and improvements have been recorded in Mali, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Madagascar, Uganda and Zimbabwe .

Freedom House also released a list of "worst among the worst," which includes countries that are at the bottom by the level of respect for political rights and civil liberties. These countries include the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

With them as equally bad, and included two territories - Tibet , which is under the administration of China, and Western Sahara, which is administered by Morocco.