Just 40 countries, representing 3.5% of the world’s population, respect the liberties of all civilians, a new study finds, warning that “democracy and human rights are under attack all over the world in ways they have never seen in decades.”
A civil society Atlas report published on Monday by German relief organization Brot Fur Die Welt (World’s Bread) said only 284 million people living in “open” countries, including Austria, Estonia, Scandinavian countries, New Zealand and Jamaica, enjoy unlimited protections of civil rights and freedoms.
Non-governmental organizations define a country as “open” when it allows the country to form an association that “will be able to demonstrate, receive information and spread it in public places without legal or practical barriers.”
Forty-two countries, which make up 11.1% of the world’s population, are listed in the second category where civil rights are classified as “disability.” These include Germany, Slovakia, Argentina and the United States.
In these countries, the right to assembly and freedom of expression is largely respected, but there are recorded violations.
“Limit, suppress, or closure.”
“In contrast, 85% of the world’s population lives in countries where civil society is restricted, restrained or closed. This affects almost 7 billion people,” the report found.
“Their government will severely limit civil liberties and kill harassment, arrests or critical voices. This applies to 115 of the 197 countries,” he added.
Several European countries appear in the “restricted” category, including Greece, the UK, Hungary and Ukraine.
Civil society is believed to have been “oppressed” in 51 countries, including Algeria, Mexico and Türkiye. In these countries, governments are monitoring, imprisoning or killing critics and exercising censorship, according to data.
Finally, Russia and 28 other countries are classified as “closed”;
It is characterized by an “atmosphere of fear.” Criticism of the government
Or, governments in these countries will be severely punished.
Brot Fur Die Welt drew the data collected by the Civicus network of civil society organizations around the world for an annual report covering 197 countries and territories.
Last year, nine countries improved their valuation of freedom of expression, including Jamaica, Japan, Slovenia, Trinidad, Tobago, Botswana, Fiji, Liberia, Poland and Bangladesh.
However, nine countries have been downgraded from the previous year, including Georgia, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Peru, Ethiopia, Eswatini, the Netherlands, Mongolia and Palestine.
Dagmar Pruin, president of Brot Fur Die Welt, warned that “the rule of law, separation of power, and protections against the arbitrar nature of the nation are either under threat or are no longer present in more and more countries.”
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