The US-based human rights organization Freedom House published its traditional annual report on the state of democracy in Europe and Eurasia on April 28, entitled Countries in transition 2021’, Turan reports.
The report assesses the state of democratic governance in 29 countries from Central Europe to Central Asia. In the opening section of the report, attacks on democratic institutions are spreading faster than ever in Europe and Eurasia.
The organization notes that reinforced authoritarian regimes are closed societies, where dictators are an obstacle to political competition and pluralism, and are responsible for large-scale violations of basic political and civil rights of the people.
All countries in the region are either turning their backs on democracy or in decline, the report says, and notes that 18 countries in the region are showing declines in democracy.
The section on Azerbaijan says that the Azerbaijani government claims about democratic reforms and rejects criticism of international organizations for violations of fundamental rights, accusing them of bias.
There are also Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Freedom House has included Armenia in the list of semi-established authoritarian regimes.
“Journalists are using innovative methods to continue their work in challenging environments. For example, independent media in Belarus switched to the massive Telegram network in order to avoid blocking by the government,” the message says.
