Freedom House released its Freedom in the World 2009 report [pdf] with a press conference at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel in Taipei today. The event was hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. The 2009 report found a decline in global freedom for the third consecutive year. Sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet states were the regions that saw the greatest decline. There was some improvement in freedom in South Asia.
Freedom House’s rankings are based on assessments of political rights and civil liberties. Scores range from one to seven with one being the most free. The average of the score for political rights and civil liberties determines whether a country is classified as free, partly free or not free. Countries such as Finland and Sweden rate the highest with scores of one for both categories. Sudan, Burma and North Korea rank the lowest with scores of seven in both categories. More details of the rankings for each country can be downloaded from Freedom House’s website. Taiwan’s score was the same as last year with a score of two for political rights and one for civil liberties for an overall rating of “free”.
I watched a live webcast of the press conference on the Wild Strawberry Movement’s channel. The conference began with an introduction by Christopher Walker, Director of Studies at Freedom House, and a summary of the key findings in the 2009 report. He also noted press freedom often provides an advance signal of declines in public freedoms. Press freedom has also been in decline. Continue reading
David on Formosa 