Freedom House Human Rights Report

(HT: Jay Nordlinger of NRO)

Freedom House has released its Annual Report on the leading national Human Rights violators in the world. There are seventeen nations at the top of the list, with eight singled out for special enphasis, including our special friends, Cuba and North Korea, both of whom I hold in particular contempt, although I may have to add a couple to the list now. Leading candidates are Burma and Sudan, although Libya also has a special place in my heart as well.

"The eight countries judged to have the worst records on political rights and civil liberties were Burma, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Similarly branded for particularly repressive behavior were two territories, Chechnya and Tibet.
Within these countries and territories "state control over daily life is pervasive and wide-ranging," said the report by Freedom House, a New York-based private democracy watchdog organization. Also, it said, "independent organizations and political opposition are banned or suppressed and fear of retribution for independent thought and action is part of daily life."

The other nine nations, labelled as places where citizens are just a wee bit better off than the "evil eight", are: Belarus, China, Cote d'Ivoire, (new to the list), Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Laos, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Zimbabwe. We all know how much I love the Chinese government, but it is nice to see such luminaries such as Zimbabwe, our good friends the Saudis, and the Syrians getting some press as well.