Michaelj Abramowitz News Today

Unless democracies act urgently and consistently to uphold their own interests and values, more territory will be lost to dictatorship and repression.

A report released today by US-based rights watchdog Freedom House shows that autocrats like Vladimir Putin have grown bolder.

Global freedom has receded for the 18th consecutive year, according to a report released Thursday by American nonprofit Freedom House. “Global freedom declined for the 18th consecutive year in 2023. The breadth and depth of the deterioration were extensive,” Freedom House said in the report. “Political rights and civil liberties were diminished in 52 countries,…

Democracy faced sharp, widespread setbacks worldwide in 2023 with violence and manipulation marring a series of elections, Freedom House said yesterday.

The 51st edition of Freedom in the World finds that only 21 countries recorded improvements in 2023, while 52 suffered declines.

Democratic governments must reinforce their efforts to end the regime’s abuses and support Navalny’s vision for a free Russia.

In response to the death of Russian democratic opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, who died in Russian custody while unjustly incarcerated, Freedom House joins partners in requesting the Biden Administration to accelerate efforts to free imprisoned Russian democracy advocate, Vladimir Kara-Murza. The letter is included below and can be read here.

In 2023, Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Russia on bogus charges for his criticism of Putin's repressive government and the Kremlin's ongoing war against Ukraine.

According to Freedom House, 25 governments were responsible for 125 incidents of physical transnational repression in 2023 alone, including assassinations, abductions, assaults, detentions, and unlawful deportations.

A total of 25 countries’ governments were responsible for 125 incidents of physical transnational repression last year, including the first documented cases perpetrated by the governments of Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, and Yemen.