Freedom House has published its annual list of the world's most repressive societies (via lgf).
Included in this report are eight countries judged to have the worst records: Burma, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan. Also included are two territories, Chechnya and Tibet, whose inhabitants suffer intense repression. These states and regions received the Freedom House survey's lowest rating: 7 for political rights and 7 for political liberties. Within these entities, state control over daily life is pervasive and wide-ranging, independent organisations and political opposition are banned or suppressed, and fear of retribution for independent thought or action is part of daily life.....The report also includes ten further countries near the bottom of Freedom House's list of the most repressive: Belarus, China, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The territory of Western Sahara is also included in this group. While these states scored slightly better than the "worst of the worst", they offered very limited scope for private discussion while severely suppressing opposition political activity, impeding independent organizing, and censoring or punishing criticism of the state.
Of these countries, six are members of the UN's human rights commission: China, Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.
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