Freedom survey registers little change in 1995 (03/10/96)

Freedom survey registers little change in 1995

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - While the early 1990s saw an explosion of political freedom worldwide with the collapse of the Iron Curtain, a 1996 annual survey of freedom registered relatively little change in political rights and civil liberties in the world's 191 countries from the previous year.

This year, the Comparative Survey of Freedom designated 76 countries as free in 1995 (the same number as the previous year), 62 countries as partly free (61 in 1994), and 53 countries as not free (54 last year). Only 10 years ago, in 1986, Freedom House, the human rights organization that has surveyed freedom throughout the world since 1955, rated 56 countries to be free, 56 to be partly free and 55 to be not free.

Adrian Karatnycky, Freedom House president, sees the lack of change from 1995 to 1996 as a positive development. "The good news is that many free societies are showing signs of increasing durability, as years of democratic rule and tolerance are creating a stronger infrastructure of civil society, especially in the post-Communist countries of Central Europe and in Latin America," he wrote in Freedom Review, the journal that publishes the annual freedom survey.

The freedom survey rates countries based on political rights and civil liberties using a seven-point scale. One to 2.5 represents the most free, 3-5 is partly free, and 5.5- 7, the least free.

In 1995, only one country, Mali, joined the ranks of free countries with a score of 2.5. Eritrea (5), Ethiopia (4.5) and Tanzania (5) jumped from the not free to the partly free category. Bolivia, which underwent six months of emergency presidential rule, lost its free rank and dropped to partly free (3), and two countries, Cambodia (6) and Lebanon (5.5), became not free.

According to the survey, in 1995, 19.5 percent of the world's population lived in free societies and have a broad range of political rights and civil liberties; 41.5 percent lived in partly free societies in which there are some constraints on basic rights due to government practice or insurgencies, political terrorism and rampant corruption; and 39 percent lived in not free societies.

Mr. Karatnycky notes that the number of formal democracies emerging on the world stage in 1995 continued to rise, bringing the total to 117. Freedom House defines a democracy as a "political system in which the people choose their authoritative leaders freely from among competing groups and individuals who were not chosen by the government."

Last year Moldova and the Kyrgyz Republic became democracies, and the Dominican Republic re-entered the ranks of the world's democracies.

"This represents just over 61 percent of the world's 191 countries," said Mr. Karatnycky. "From the perspective of a decade ago, the gain is all the more impressive. Ten years ago, less than 42 percent of the world's countries were formal democracies."

The organization's president points out, however, that democracy is not synonymous with freedom. Of the world's 117 democracies, 76 are free, 40 are partly free and one - war-torn Bosnia - is not free.

Eastern and Central Europe

Of the countries of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, nine are free (representing 20 percent of the region's population), 13 are partly free (63 percent of the region's population), and seven are rated not free (17 percent of the population). None of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States are rated free.

Nineteen out of 27 states in the post-Communist expanse are formal democracies in which 80 percent of the region's population lives.

Mr. Karatnycky pointed out worrying trends in the region, represented by a deterioration of political rights in Armenia, which was rated partly free with a score of 4; the deterioration of human rights and political freedoms in Belarus (partly free, 5); and by the consolidation of one-party rule in Azerbaijan (not free, 6). Three states of the former Soviet Union, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (all with a score of 7), were among the 18 most repressive countries in the world.

Romania, Russia and Ukraine, each with a score of 3.5, remained partly free. Ukraine's neighbors, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary (1.5 each) and Slovakia (2.5), are rated free, and Moldova (4) is partly free.

In his analysis of Russia's "near abroad," Freedom House's Central and Eastern Europe specialist George Zarycky noted that "Ukraine has made steady progress toward political and national stability. The Crimea crisis has been temporarily defused. It has managed to avoid ethnic strife and extremist violence."

In addition, Ukraine has "a vibrant independent media, established trade unions and other elements of a burgeoning civil society," but Mr. Zarycky warned that "foot-dragging on reforms could undermine foreign assistance and prompt Russia to use economic means to provoke crisis and unrest."

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