Freedom House Ranks Armenia as Partly Free

• 09.20.2016, 23:10
•  Armenia,  NKR

Freedom House, an organization surveying democracies and freedom worldwide, has taken the wraps off its Freedom in the World 2016 report, describing Armenia as a Partly Free country with a total score of 46 (0 = Worst, 100 = Best).

Freedom in the World 2016 evaluates the state of freedom in 195 countries and 15 territories during calendar year 2015. Freedom in the World assesses the real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals, rather than governments or government performance per se.

In Armenia, political rights and civil liberties stand at 5 and 4, respectively, with a rating of 1 representing the most free conditions and 7 showing the least free ones.

''In August, President Sargsyan formally submitted a reform proposal to transform Armenia’s semipresidential government into a parliamentary system with an empowered prime minister. Although the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission approved a modified version of the reforms in October, critics maintained suspicions that the plan was tailored to extend the tenures of ruling elites. In December, voters approved the proposal in a referendum marred by allegations of fraud,'' the report stated.

''In January, Armenia became a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, a regional trade alliance with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, which joined later in the year,'' it went on.

In late 2015, Freedom House unveiled its Freedom on the Net report, placing Armenia among the Free countries with a total score of 28 (0 = Best, 100 = Worst). Later, in April, 2016, the NGO characterized the country as Not Free in its Freedom of the Press report.

The number of countries designated as Free stands at 86, representing 44 percent of the world’s 195 polities and nearly 2.9 billion people—or 40 percent of the global population. The number of Free countries has decreased by three compared to the previous year.

As for the other Eastern Partnership countries, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, holding 64, 61 and 60 points respectively, are also among the Partly Free countries, while Azerbaijan and Belarus with their scores of 16 and 17 are listed as Not Free states.

In case of Azerbaijan, the organization issued a statement condemning the detention of 40 activists, bloggers, and opposition party members in Azerbaijan ahead of a planned protest of the upcoming constitutional referendum.

The statement, on the organization’s website, reads: "The targeting of these individuals for harassment and detention ahead of a peaceful protest is an unequivocal violation of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly"