Tunisians recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution, after ousting a longtime autocrat from power in 2011. 10 years on, Tunisian citizens still enjoy unprecedented political rights and civil liberties.
Freedom House is a well-known U.S.-based, U.S. government-funded, non-profit, non-governmental organization. It is one of the most reputable entities worldwide that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights.
Freedom House recently published its prominent annual report, Freedom in the World, which assesses the state of political rights, civil liberties and human rights in over 200 countries and territories around the globe.
Freedom House’s Methodology
In an interview with pomed.org, Amy Slipowitz, the research manager of Freedom in the World, mentioned that “each of the countries and territories covered in the report is examined using the same methodology, which contains 25 indicators covering different aspects of political rights and civil liberties, on a scale from 0 to 100 (0 being the least free).”
She added: “This score determines whether the country is Free, Partly Free, or Not Free. Our methodology is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has been developed with input from scholars from around the world.”
Amy had the opportunity to share her thoughts about the MENA region, and this was her input: “As of the latest published report, the MENA region had the highest percentage of Not Free countries, and the second-lowest percentage of Free countries (only Eurasia performed worse, with zero Free countries). Looking at this from a population perspective, only 5 percent of people in the MENA region live in Free countries, while 85 percent live in Not Free countries.”
Tunisia is The Only Free Country in an Unfree Region
According to the published report, along with Israel, Tunisia is one of only two Free countries in MENA and has the second highest score in the region.
Globally, Tunisia has experienced the largest 10-year improvement of any country in the world.
Tunisians recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution, after ousting a longtime autocrat from power in 2011. Ten years on, Tunisian citizens still enjoy unprecedented political rights and civil liberties.
However, the influence of endemic corruption, economic challenges, security threats, and continued unresolved issues related to gender equality and transitional justice remain obstacles to full democratic consolidation.
Globally, Tunisia has experienced the largest 10-year improvement of any country in the world
Source: Freedom House.
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