Freedom House, in its annual report assessing political rights and civil liberties around the world, says that in 2020, freedom will be in global decline for the 15th consecutive year. The civil society organization argues that India, the world’s largest democracy, is no longer a “free” country, and that “the malign influence of China, the world’s most populous dictatorship, will be particularly profound in 2020. Freedom House also praised Taiwan as one of the best-performing democracies in Asia.
The organization said less than one in five people in the world live in “fully free” countries, the lowest percentage since 1995.
Report says democratic freedoms continue to regress globally
“This year’s findings make it abundantly clear that we have not yet stemmed the tide of dictatorship,” said Sarah Repucci, vice president for research and analysis at Freedom House. “If we are to reverse the decline that has built up over 15 years and build a freer and more peaceful world, democratic governments must work together in solidarity with democracy advocates and human rights defenders in a more authoritarian environment.”
The report says the new coronavirus pandemic has provided an opportunity for many regimes around the world to “reduce transparency, promote false or misleading information and suppress the sharing of unfavorable data or critical views.”
“Embargo measures have sometimes been excessive, politicized or brutally enforced by security agencies. Anti-democratic leaders around the world have used the pandemic as a cover to weaken political opposition and consolidate power,” the organization said.
“The fact that many of this year’s negative developments may have lasting effects means that the eventual end of the pandemic will not necessarily trigger an immediate revival of democracy.”
Freedom House said it “lowered the freedom scores of 73 countries” in its assessment, citing India’s regression from “free” to “partially free” due to the erosion of its political and Civil rights have been eroded.
India, Freedom House says, is just one example of “widespread abuse of power by authoritarians who seize new opportunities to consolidate power or suppress dissent with impunity. As a result, in many cases, promising democratic movements have suffered major setbacks as a result.
Report Condemns China’s Adverse Global Impact
“The malign influence of China, the world’s most populous dictatorship, is particularly far-reaching in 2020,” the report said.
“Beijing has stepped up its global campaign of disinformation and speech censorship in response to its cover-up of the consequences of the initial outbreak of the new coronavirus Epidemic, which severely hampered the rapid global response in the early days of the pandemic. Its approach also included increased interference in domestic political dialogue in foreign democracies, transnational extensions of human rights abuses common in mainland China, and the destruction of Hong Kong‘s freedom and legal autonomy,” the report said.
Beyond the epidemic, Beijing’s foreign export of anti-democratic tactics, economic coercion and physical intimidation has led to the erosion of democratic institutions and human rights protections in many countries, the organization said.
China’s growing influence in international organizations such as the United Nations, the WHO and the Human Rights Council has allowed Beijing to pursue “a so-called vision of non-interference that allows for impunity for abuses of democratic principles and human rights standards while promoting the formation of authoritarian coalitions.”
Freedom House also cited the Belarusian government’s crackdown on protesters challenging the results of the recent elections. It said Azerbaijan’s military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh “threatens the recent democratic gains in Armenia.”
Freedom House said the United States is still considered “free,” but “scores …… have dropped 11 points in the last decade.” The organization blames former President Trump for causing the U.S. score to drop by three points in 2020 alone.
Now, the group says, the U.S. ranks more with countries like Romania and Panama than with “leading democracies” like France and Germany.
Report Praises Taiwan’s Democracy
It’s not all bad news, though.
Freedom House said Malawi’s 2020 revote after the “disrupted” 2019 elections “represents a key victory for Malawi’s democratic institutions and sets a positive example of judicial independence for other African countries.”
The organization also praised Taiwan’s performance in responding to the outbreak. It called Taiwan one of the “best-performing” democracies in Asia.
“The government effectively contained the new coronavirus without resorting to abuses, in stark contrast to authoritarian China, which branded its draconian response as a world example,” Freedom House said. “Even before the virus broke out, Taiwanese voters defied a multi-pronged, politicized disinformation campaign from China to overwhelmingly re-elect a president who opposed moving toward reunification with the mainland.”
“Our report concludes that democracy is under siege right now, but not defeated,” said Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House.
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