2006 saw the emergence of a series of worrisome trends, concludes the US based freedom of expression and human rights monitoring and lobbying organisation Freedom House. Among the most troubling trends, says Freedom House, is a growing ´pushback´ against organizations, movements and media that monitor human rights or advocate for he expansion of democratic freedoms. (20-JAN-07)

Based on the press release and reports from Freedom House, this article has been written by HRH F / Niels Jacob Harbitz.

Many of the countries where HRH F are involved are among those dropping on Freedom House´s ratings. A systematic effort to weaken or eliminate pro-democracy forces is most prevalent among authoritarian regimes in the former Soviet Union. But governments in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America have also taken steps to diminish freedom of assembly, smother civil society, and silence critics.

Overall, a negative trend
Several of the countries that showed declines during the year are those alreay counted among the world´s most repressive states: Burma, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Eritrea, and Iran. Yet declines were also noted in a number of countries rated Free or Partly Free, but whose democratic institutions remain unformed or fragile, as well as in societies that had previously demonstrated a strong measure of democratic stability: South Africa, Kenya, Taiwan, Philippines, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Hungary. In addition to the worst rated countries, among them North Korea, Sudan, Burma and Somalia, there are also two worst-rated territories; Tibet, under Chinese jurisdiction, and the Chechen Republic, where an Islamic population is engaged in a brutal guerrilla war for independence from the Russian Federation. An additional ten countries and territories received scores that were only slightly above the worst ranked countries. Among those ´only slightly better than the worst´, one finds Belarus the People´s Republic of China, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Western Sahara.

Putin, the leader of the pack, setting a very worrisome example
For the Russian Federation and its neighbours, Freedom House states that the picture and future prospects are bleak. Th only relatively bright spots among the non-Baltic countries of the former Soviet Union were Ukraine and Georgia, which have been designated as Free and Partly Free, respectively. Modest declines were noted in the Russian Federation, for its crackdowns on non-governmental organizations; Azerbaijan, for the regime´s increasingly tight grip on the media; and Kyrgyzstan, for a decline in religious freedom. Russia´s pervasive influence throughout the region bodes ill for reform prospects. President Vladimir Putin has systematically weakened or marginalized independent media, advocates for demoracy, and regime critics generally. The murder of crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya, carried out in gangland assassination style, is but the latest, albeit the most disturbing, case in a series of journalist killings that have gone unsolved by the government. Putin placed further restrictions on the ability of opposition parties to effectively campaign for office, while government policies tolerated discrimination against Russian citizens from the country´s North Caucasus and encouraged the mistreatment of immigrants from georgia and caucasus countries. the Russian Federation thus serves as a model for authoritarian-minded leaders in the region and elsewhere, concludes Freedom House, much in line with what HRH F has warned for some time, on numerous occasions and in many different contexts.

In Africa, the usual suspects, but also Kenya is getting worse
In Africa, after years of steady and, in a few cases, impressive gains for democracy, Sub-Saharan Africa suffered more setbacks than gains during 2006. Among the countries suffering serious declines were Chad and Somalia, while Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe were among those experiencing more modest declines. For Kenya, the main reason why a downward trend is registered as the overall tendency, is that there has been a consistent “lack of transparency regarding governmental anti-corruption efforts”.

Nepal; the exception from the rule. There, it´s actually improving
In Asia-Pacific, the most notable setbacks were registered in Thailand, Sri Lanka and the People´s Republic of China. Nepal, however, climbed the ratings to change its overall category from Not Free to Partly Free due to the end of direct rule by King Gyanendra, the return of parliement and improvements in the rule of law.

Complete survey results reflect global events during 2006. A package of
charts and graphs
<http://freedomhouse.org/uploads/press_release/fiw07_charts.pdf>  and an
explanatory essay
<http://freedomhouse.org/uploads/press_release/fiw07_overview_final.pdf>
are available online.