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With Donald Trump’s unconventional presidency that has left more questions unanswered, Britain continued push for Brexit, and as the battle to retake territory from Islamic State militants in Iraq continue to rage, a new report shows freedom is on the decline, worldwide, in its 11th consecutive year, even in democratic nations.
One of the key findings of the Freedom in the World 2017 report published by Freedom House, exposed that “With populist and nationalist forces making significant gains in democratic states, 2016 marked the 11th consecutive year of decline in global freedom”.
While in past years the declines in freedom were generally concentrated among autocracies and dictatorships that simply went from bad to worse, in 2016 it was established democracies, countries rated Free in the report’s ranking system that dominated the list of countries suffering setbacks, observed Arch Puddington, one of the report’s co-authors.
Of the 195 countries assessed, 87 making up 45 percent were rated Free, 59 (30 percent) Partly Free, and 49 (25 percent) Not Free.
The Freedom in the World 2017 shows that there were setbacks in political rights, civil liberties, or both, in a number of countries rated “Free” by the report, including Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia, and the United States.
The Middle East and North Africa region had the worst ratings in the world in 2016, followed closely by Eurasia.
Of the 49 countries designated as Not Free, the following 11 have the worst aggregate scores for political rights and civil liberties (beginning with the least free): Syria, Eritrea, North Korea, Uzbekistan, South Sudan, Turkmenistan, Somalia, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, and Saudi Arabia.
For Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia and Ghana were given special mention.
While “Ethiopia experienced its worst political upheaval in many years, when protests by the Oromo people over ethnic and land rights broadened into a general eruption of popular discontent and security forces used disproportionate and lethal force against protesters, Ghana consolidated its position as one of the most stable democracies on the continent when opposition candidate Nana Akufo-Addo defeated incumbent John Mahama in the December presidential election.
Nigeria is reported to be partly free.
“For the period since the 11-year slide began in 2006, 109 countries have seen a net decline, and only 60 have experienced a net improvement,” the report stated.
The report, however, listed the following countries as among those that may experience important developments in the coming year, adding that they deserve special scrutiny.
They include the United States for Trump’s unconventional presidency; South Africa for the test of the country’s democracy; Ecuador for an election to find a successor to President Rafael Correa; Czech Republic for the rise or defeat of the populist and nationalist ANO party; Iraq for the battle to retake territory from Islamic State militants, and Zimbabwe for politicians and officials in the ruling ZANU-PF party that will continue to jockey for position to succeed Zimbabwe’s aging president Robert Mugabe against a backdrop of burgeoning popular protests and increasing economic woes
Others are Kyrgyzstan for how president Almazbek Atambayev would be able to pave way for himself to retain power by shifting to the prime minister’s seat; Denmark for series of bills that, if adopted, would further restrict immigrant and refugee rights and damage the country’s reputation for liberal values; Philippines for president Rodrigo Duterte extreme policies with strong parliamentary backing, and Tanzania for president John Magufuli’s authoritarian tendencies, which have already emerged through the government’s use of the Cybercrimes Act against critics and the passage of a new media law late in the year.