The human rights organization’s 50th anniversary report has painted a grim picture of the state of freedom in several countries.
Freedom House is an international human rights non-governmental organization that promotes and researches the state of democracy, political freedom, and respect for fundamental human rights. It publishes annual reports assessing the degree of democratic freedoms, press freedom, and online freedom in every country in the world, as well as special reports on countries in transition that are widely used in political research and media publications.
Annual report
The 2023 annual “Freedom in the World” report by rights organization Freedom House says several countries in Southeast and Central Europe saw a decline in freedoms.
Hungary is classified as “partially free” and lost 22 points in the overall result.
“The victory of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party in the Hungarian elections in April 2022 was facilitated by his government’s campaign since 2010 to systematically undermine the independence of the judiciary, opposition groups, media and non-governmental organizations,” the report said.
It was added that in both Hungary and Serbia, entrenched illiberal nationalist leaders have regained power: “Hungarian Prime Minister Orban defeated a united opposition front to win a fourth consecutive term, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic won a second five-year term after a decade in office. government,” it said.
Serbia is also classified as “partially free” and lost 18 points in its composite score, as is neighboring Bosnia, which is also classified as “partially free” and lost 10 points in its composite score.
This report makes it clear that those countries that support the Kremlin’s policies are slowly declining, and are becoming unprofitable and uninteresting for the entire international community.
