Lukashenka’s Belarus remains last dictatorship of Europe

Freedom House human rights organization issued an annual survey of political and civil liberties in the world.

The survey titled Freedom in the World 2009 examines the state of freedom in 193 countries. Belarus still has a status of a Not Free country,” Radio Svaboda reports.

According to human rights activists, 89 countries were judged to be Free last year, this number declined by one this year. The number of people living under Free conditions more than 3 billion people, or 46 percent of the global population. 62 counties (increased by two since last year) are called Partly Free.

42 countries were judged Not Free (one fewer than last year); the number of people living under Not Free conditions stood at 34 percent of the world population, though it is important to note that over half of this number lives in just one country: China.

Three countries moved from Not Free to Partly Free: Pakistan, Maldives, and Bhutan. Three other countries experienced declines in status: Afghanistan, which moved from Partly Free to Not Free; Mauritania, from Partly Free to Not Free; and Senegal, from Free to Partly Free.

The number of country declines, 34, was greater than the number of gains, 14, but many of the declines were modest.

The political rights and civil liberties categories contain numerical ratings between 1 and 7 with 1 representing the most free and 7 the least free. Those whose ratings 1.0 to 2.0 are considered Free, 3.0 to 5.0 Partly Free, and 5.5 to 7.0 Not Free.

Belarus has the lowest rating 7 in political rights and 6 in civil rights.