Freedom House’s issues an annual country-by-country report on global political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2014. «Developments in Eurasia during 2013 proved the adage that in global affairs there is one standard for countries with energy wealth and another, more rigorous standard for everyone else,» according to the report.
«Three states in the sub region that suffered declines for the year—Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan—are locked in a downward spiral that has been ongoing for over a decade, but they are rich in natural gas and oil, and thus have largely escaped the condemnation of democratic governments,» according to Freedom House.
«Kazakhstan received a downward trend arrow due to broad extralegal enforcement of its already strict 2011law on religious activity,» the report says.
Freedom House rates Kazakhstan as a «not free country» with a score of 6 on political rights on a 7-point scale and 5 on civil liberties.
Meanwhile, three Eurasian states, Belarus, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, are included in Freedom House’s list of the world’s most repressive countries.
ALMATY. Jan 24 (Interfax-Kazakhstan)
