Freedom House: “No changes in Belarus”

Freedom House, a human rights watchdog organisation, has published the latest annual "Freedom in The World" report.

Belarus traditionally takes one of the last positions among 193 countries as "not free" country.

For its rating the Freedom House annually analyzes the situation with political rights and civil liberties in different countries and divides the countries into three groups: free, partially free and not free.

Belarus has been included into the group of not free countries together with such former Soviet Union countries as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Out of 192 countries of the world (excluding Kosovo and breakaway territories South Ossetia and Abkhazia not recognized by the world community), 42 states have been labeled not free, including China, Russia, most courtiers of the Muslim world and Africa. 89 countries have been recognized as free, and 62 as partially free.

34% of the world population live in not free countries (more than a half of that live in China).

Why Belarus hasn’t managed to break away from the group of not free countries, despite of the fact that the regime released political prisoners and made a number of statements on liberalization of economical and political life last year?

Christopher Walker, the centre’s director of studies, stated in an interview to Radio Svaboda that in the countries of the former Soviet Union, except the three Baltic countries, the process of “authority monopolization” is observed.

As for Belarus, Walker noted that despite of some “fermentation” in the civil society, no significant changes have taken place in the sphere of political rights or civil liberties over the last year.

Belarus is under pressure at many levels: economic, energy relations with Russia and its dependency on it. Some fermentation inside the civil society has been noticed, and the regime has made several statements on their intention to attract the civil society in a different way, but in general indices the research centre pays attention to haven’t changed considerably. Timid change on the margins, and not a considerable change of the country’s position could be spoken about. It cannot be expected at the moment, the Freedom House’s director of studies said.

The Freedom House publishes its indices since 1972. The annual reports of the organisation are considered a reputable source of information about political rights and civil liberties in the world.