Freedom House: Belarus Remains Dictatorial Country

A human rights organisation Freedom House has published an annual report of the situation with political and civil freedoms in the world. Belarus is on the list of not free countries again.

The document analyses the state of freedom in 194 countries and 12 so-called territories which do not have an internationally recognized status of an independent country (for instance, Abkhazia or Transdniestria).

According to Freedom House, in 2009, like in 2008, 89 countries could be called free (46% of the world population live there). 58 countries are ranked as "partially free" (20% of the world population). 47 countries are called not free (34% of the world population, or 2.3 billion people), Radio Svaboda informs.

According to the report, the number of countries where the situation with political and civil liberties has deteriorated, is higher than the number of the countries where it has improved. Last year the situation has deteriorated in Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Kyrgyzstan.

Like in the report of the last year, Belarus got the worse score in the category of political rights (7), and its civil liberties Score is 6.

The situation in the country is as difficult as last year. Belarus is traditionally on the bottom o the 7 parameters of democratic development: electoral process, civil society, independent media, national democratic governance, local democratic governance, judicial framework and independence, corruption.

All the countries of the former Soviet Union, except for the three Baltic states, Ukraine and Moldova (partially free), are estimated by the Freedom House to be not free countries.

Freedom House is a US-based international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights. It publishes an annual report assessing the degree of perceived democratic freedoms in each country, which is used in political science research. The scores range from 1 (the highest degree) to 7 (the lowest degree of development). The final score is formed by a consensus of experts, academic advisers of the organisation and authors of special political reports on specific countries.