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Äike
01-13-2011, 05:24 PM
US Human Rights Group Releases Freedom Rankings (http://news.err.ee/politics/09ab13ce-7437-46d0-9c9c-b063139a86dd)

http://ext.err.ee/imgen2.aspx?mode=25&id=09ab13ce-7437-46d0-9c9c-b063139a86dd
Photo: Postimees/Scanpix

The human rights organization, Freedom House, has counted Estonia among the freest nations in an increasingly undemocratic world.

Dividing its evaluations into three categories - free, partly free, and not free - Freedom House gave Estonia and 46 other countries a one out of a seven-point system. Estonia's neighbors Finland and Lithuania also received one point, while Latvia was given a 1.5 and Russia a 5.5.

Overall in the world, democracy has been on the decline for a fourth consecutive year, according to Freedom House. Out of 194 countries, freedom decreased in 40 countries, and three EU countries – France, Hungary and Latvia – were moved from the "free“ to the "partly free“ category.

"In a year of intensified repression against human rights defenders and democratic activists by many of the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes, Freedom House found a continued erosion of freedom worldwide [...] The fact that more societies did not seek authoritarian alternatives in the face of a severe worldwide economic crisis last year could be held up as a testament to the strength of the democratic idea. Still, the notion that things could have been worse is poor consolation,“ wrote the Freedom House report.