The Freedom House published “Freedom in the World 2019” report, which offered a special assessment of the state of democracy in 195 countries of the world. Of the 195, 86 (44 percent) were rated as Free, 59 (30 percent) - Partly Free, and 50 (26 percent) - Not Free.
Overall, the organization in the report gives a gloomy assessment of global freedom in the world. Experts say that a total of 68 countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties during 2018, with only 50 registering gains.
Freedom House documents the weakening of democratic norms around the world, especially regarding elections and the human rights of migrants. The past year was the 13th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. The share of Not Free countries has increased over this period, and a crisis of confidence in long-standing democracies has intensified.
At the same time, positive changes are also recorded in a number of countries where the authorities were forced to meet the popular aspirations for freedom. The corresponding processes took place last year in Angola, Armenia, Ethiopia and Malaysia.
From the post-Soviet countries, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Ukraine were included in the Partly Free list, while Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were recognized as Not Free.
Among notable changes in the Eurasia region, Freedom House notes the improvement in the situation in Uzbekistan.
“Formerly one of Freedom in the World’s “Worst of the Worst”—experienced another year of tentative improvement, as the government continued to release political prisoners and ease restrictions on NGOs,” the document says.
