Freedom House: only in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan situation is worse than in Belarus

A report “Nations in Transit 2014”was published by the international research organization Freedom House.

It contains an analysis of the state of democracy and human rights in 29 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

The report highlights the key role of Russia in reducing the level of democracy among the post-Soviet countries. According to the research, Russia plays a role model for other countries in the region.

Freedom House notes the failure of democratic governance, not only in the countries of Eurasia and the Balkans, but also in post-communist Central Europe, where the preservation of corruption was noticeable last year.

Freedom House analyses7 parameters, among which the situation of civil society, electoral process and media, level of corruption and others. An assessment is made on a 7-point scale, with 1 point meaning the best situation, and 7 – the worst.

According to reports of Freedom House,situation in Belarus remains stably bad for the last 2 years.

For comparison: the index of democracy in the region in 2014, according to Freedom House,is 6.6 in Kazakhstan, 6.29 in Russia, 4.93 in Ukraine, 2.36 in Lithuania, 2.07 in Latvia, and 2.18 in Poland.

Belarus, along with Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan belongs to the group of consolidated authoritarian regimes. According to Freedom House, only in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan situation is worse than in Belarus. 

According to the report, the average rate of situation with democracy in the region has decreased in comparison with the previous year, the negative influence of Russia manifested itself in adoption by a number of countries in Eurasia of laws modeled on Russian ones restricting "homosexual propaganda" and foreign funding of NGOs. Growth of corruption in the countries of Central and Eastern Europeresulted in a lower rateof democracy in 5 out of 10 European Union countries that have been the objects of study.

According to researchers, Aliaksandr Lukashenkahave not encountered any serious challenges to his authority in 2013; civil activity after the 2010 post-election crackdown remained at a low level.