Thailand, Congo slide into shame, join 'not-free' list
Thailand has suffered another setback to its international standing and has joined Congo as a newly "not-free" country, according to a global survey released this week.
Freedom in the World 2007 is a survey of worldwide political rights and civil liberties conducted by New York-based Freedom House. It found Thailand one of the 45 not-free nations that account for about 23 per cent of all people. About half the world's people living in not-free countries are in China. But the survey said the percentage of countries designated as free had remained flat for nearly a decade and suggests a "freedom stagnation" may be developing. The continued weakness of democratic institutions - even after holding elections - in a number of countries continues to hamper further progress, Freedom House said. According to the survey, the number of countries judged to be free was 90 - or about 47 per cent of the global population. Fifty-eight countries qualified as partly free, accounting for 30 per cent of the world's population. Regionally, major findings include a setback for freedom in a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, a more modest decline in Africa and a solidification of authoritarian rule in the majority of countries of the former Soviet Union. Three countries experienced positive status changes. Guyana moved from partly free to free, while Haiti and Nepal moved from not free to partly free. Two countries experienced negative status changes. Thailand and Congo moved from partly free to not free. Sixteen of Asia's 39 countries are free while 12 are partly free and 11 are not free. Freedom House noted the trends reflected the growing "pushback against democracy" driven by authoritarian regimes, including Russia, Venezuela, China, Iran and Zimbabwe, threatening to further erode the gains made in the past 30 years. The pushback is targeted at organisations, movements and media that advocate the expansion of democratic freedoms. Regionally, Asia experienced the largest proportion of lowered scores in 2006. While the dominant development was the military-led coup that ousted Thailand's democratically elected prime minister, other countries previously considered showcases of Asian freedom, including the Philippines and East Timor, also experienced setbacks.
|
