It's Official - The Nations Who Are the Worst of the Worst Human Rights Abusers

Freedom House, a New York based, non-profit NGO,				reprisal for self-governing thoughts, or actions.
has been monitoring threats to human rights from as				The countries committing human rights abuse, reach
far back as 1980. Its 2009 annual report discloses				across the Americas, the Middle East, Central Asia,
that at the commencement of 2009, 54% of the				Africa and East Asia. They embrace a large range of
world's population is still forced to live under brutal				cultures and several levels of economic growth.
authoritarian rule.				Countries such as Zimbabwe have crumbled from
" 89 (46%) of the world's 193 countries are ranked				being one of Africa's most affluent nations, to
as Free, where the population has freedom of a large				becoming one of its poorest, ravaged by disease,
variety of political and human rights				starvation and the world's highest level of inflation.
" 62 (32%) live in only Partly Free countries, where				Over the last thirty years there has been a major
rule of law is very weakly enforced				extension of human independence. Many tyrannical
" 42 (22%) of the world's countries are given the				leaders have found themselves before international
rating of Not Free with the people having only basic				courts, while some are still on trial. Numerous states
human rights and political freedom completely				have done away with their dictatorship and
unknown.				embraced democracy and opted for basic civil
Of the 42 countries ranked as Not Free, eight were				freedom. There is universal backing for the:
listed with the Worst of the Worst possible rating.				" values of democracy
These countries included: Burma, Equatorial Guinea,				" rule of law
Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and				" liberty of association
Uzbekistan. The list also included the two territories,				" freedom of speech,
Chechnya and Tibet.				" rights of the minorities
These countries were followed by a slightly lesser				" plus many other fundamental universally recognized
rating: Belarus, Chad, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Laos, Saudi				basic human rights.
Arabia, Syria and Zimbabwe, as well as the two				Numerous countries that have attained measured and
territories of South Ossetia (Georgia) and Western				sustainable progress in long-term economic growth,
Sahara (Morocco). In these nations there is no place				also have gained a respect for democratic practices.
for private discussion, while political opposition is				Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom
fiercely oppressed. All criticism of the state is				House however says "Although democracy has
censored and punishment severely administered. The				scored impressive gains in recent times, we have also
people's lives are totally state controlled and				begun to experience a new drive to prevent the
all-encompassing, with the overshadowing fear of				further spread of democracy and where possible, roll
reprisal for self-determining thoughts, or actions.				back some of the achievements that have already
The next level of countries were: Belarus, Chad,				been registered". This entails doing away with
China, Cuba, Eritrea, Laos, Saudi Arabia, Syria and				independent media, marginalizing political opponents,
Zimbabwe, besides the two territories of South				thwarting independent think tanks and stopping NGOs
Ossetia (Georgia) and Western Sahara (Morocco). In				from getting important resources.
these countries private discussion is firmly				On top of all that, many of the worst human rights
discouraged, while political challengers are ruthlessly				law-breakers have become a member of loose
tyrannized. Any criticism of the government is				coalitions belonging to the United Nations, in order to
monitored and punishment meted out. The people's				turn aside the world's eyes from their history of
lives are fully controlled by the government and				tyranny.
totally enveloping, with constant fear of official