"Freedom in the World" index
The U.S.-based pro-democracy group Freedom House has called the popular uprisings that swept the Arab world in 2011 the greatest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism, and said they have brought hope to people around the world who live in countries with oppressive governments. The conclusions come in Freedom House's latest "Freedom in the World" index, which has been published annually since 1972 and measures the ability of people to exercise their political and civil rights in 195 countries and 14 territories.
UKRAINE
Ukraine suffered what the group calls "a major decline due to President Viktor Yanukovych's moves to crush the political opposition through a variety of antidemocratic tactics, including the prosecution of opposition political leader and former prime minister [Yulia] Tymoshenko."
Ukraine has declined in freedom "more substantially than any other major country" that Freedom House surveys. There have been setbacks in the electoral process and press freedom, but the biggest backward slide was potentially more troubling.
The real locus of setback has been in the rule of law, and I want to especially point to the persecution of Yulia Tymoshenko. The charges that she's been imprisoned for just strike us as being spurious, and we regard the prosecution of the leader of a political opposition [group] for purposes of vengeance, as a very dangerous phenomenon.
Additional information:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-world
http://www.rferl.org/content/freedom_in_the_world_index_year_of_hope/24456367.html
UKRAINE
Ukraine suffered what the group calls "a major decline due to President Viktor Yanukovych's moves to crush the political opposition through a variety of antidemocratic tactics, including the prosecution of opposition political leader and former prime minister [Yulia] Tymoshenko."
Ukraine has declined in freedom "more substantially than any other major country" that Freedom House surveys. There have been setbacks in the electoral process and press freedom, but the biggest backward slide was potentially more troubling.
The real locus of setback has been in the rule of law, and I want to especially point to the persecution of Yulia Tymoshenko. The charges that she's been imprisoned for just strike us as being spurious, and we regard the prosecution of the leader of a political opposition [group] for purposes of vengeance, as a very dangerous phenomenon.
Additional information:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-world
http://www.rferl.org/content/freedom_in_the_world_index_year_of_hope/24456367.html