Central Asia “not free” says Freedom House report

t('articles.tweet')

* denotes required field.

• Your name *
• Email to *
• Comments *
• CAPTCHA *

Reset

Kyrgyzstan has been downgraded in an annual assessment of freedom, joining the other Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, already designated as “not free”.

The assessment, contained in “Freedom in the World 2010: Global Erosion of Freedom” by the non-governmental organization Freedom House, annually evaluates 193 countries based on restrictions on freedom and government oppression.

Calling “2009 the year of global declines in freedom for the first time in almost four decades”, Christopher Walker, Director of Studies at Freedom House said no country showed improvement in the latest assessment. Freedom House began their annual freedom reports in 1972.

Walker said 2009 was marked by intensified repression against human rights defenders and civic activists, with the most severe declines in freedom registered in 40 countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and the former USSR. The countries represent 20 percent of the world’s total polities.

Kyrgyzstan was moved from “partly free” to “not free” as a result of last year’s presidential elections, Walker said.

“The country was right at the edge of partly free, but during last year, the presidential elections, the pressure of the executive powers, moved Kyrgyzstan to a “not free” category. There were hopes that media freedom will be supported, but on the contrary – there has been noticed growing pressure”.

In the last two years there have been a number of attacks on journalists in Kyrgyzstan, as well as the murder last December of Kyrgyz journalist Gennady Pavlyuk in Kazakhstan.

According to the Freedom House report, Pakistan is still “partly free”, but there have been many cases of corruption and violence. But Walker added that there were still positive signs as the government implements a number of reforms, such as restoration of judicial independence.

Walker said there was a noticeable decline in political rights during the nation’s presidential campaign and election in August. The election was marred by allegations of electoral fraud by outside surveyors. He said there were also some government corruption cases, so the country remains ranked as “not free”.

Walker said Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are among the 47 most repressive countries in the world.