Syria ranks last in global freedom ranking – Freedom House
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Freedom House, a US-funded think tank which assess the state of civil liberties in the world, placed Syria last in its 2023 global country survey (only the Chinese-occupied region of Tibet scored worse).
Syria received a single point out of 100. The Freedom House survey arrives at these results tallying the state of press freedom, civil liberties, democracy, and more. Government-held areas of Syria have had a disastrous track record in all departments. Around 102.000 people have been made to disappear since the outbreak of war, mostly by the Syrian government, the UN says.
Human rights are similarly trampled on in Turkish-occupied areas of Syria, as a quarterly study by the Rojava Information Center shows. Enforced disappearances, unlawful arrests, rape, and murder are widespread.
On the other hand, while the Autonomous Administration-ruled northeast has had some brushes with press freedom and arbitrary arrests, it is by far the most secure and free region of Syria. In some departments, such as religious freedom, it may even be among the freest in the region. Yet the American study does not make this differentiation.
Turkey also scored a failing grade, being deemed ‘not free’ with a score of 32. Freedom House furthermore included Turkey within the most dramatic declines over the past decade. Turkey fell a whopping 29 points in that time span.
The country was furthermore featured in the ‘spotlight’ section of the think-tank’s report, which read, “The government manipulated electoral laws and imposed harsh penalties for ‘disinformation’ as it worked to fend off the opposition ahead of planned 2023 general elections.”
Overall, freedom in the Middle East “slightly improved” in 2023, says Freedom House, owing mostly to betterments in the scores of Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.