Freedom House labeled 17 countries and 3 territories as places where citizens live in extremely oppressive environments in its report titled Worst of the Worst 2011: The World’s Most Repressive Societies, released yesterdays. [See the general part – here]
Of those ‘World’s Most Repressive Societies’, three are located in the Horn of Africa: Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia.
Here is a the profile of the three countries in the report.
Note that: The survey rates each country and territory on a scale of 1 to 7 for both political rights and civil liberties, with 1 representing the most free and 7 the least free, and uses the average of those two ratings to assign each country and territory a status of Free (1.0 to 2.5), Partly Free (3.0 to 5.0), or Not Free (5.5 to 7.0). [See a detailed explanation of the methodology in a previous post – here]
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ERITREA
Capital: Asmara
Population: 5,200,000
Political Rights: 7
Civil Liberties: 7
Status: Not Free
Ten-Year Ratings Timeline for Year under Review
(Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Status)
| Year under review | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Rating | 7,6,NF | 7,6,NF | 7,6,NF | 7,6,NF | 7,6,NF | 7,6,NF | 7,6,NF | 7,6,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF |
2010 Key Developments: The political system remained frozen in 2010, with no plans for national elections despite 17 years of independence and 10 years of tense peace with Ethiopia. The government continued to use the threat of arrest and an onerous conscription system to maintain control over the population. Diplomatic friction with neighboring Djibouti eased during the year after Eritrea withdrew its forces from contested territory and agreed to a negotiated settlement.
Political Rights: Eritrea is not an electoral democracy. The only legal political party, the Popular Front for Democracy and Justice, maintains complete dominance over the country’s political life and has become harshly authoritarian since the end of the war with Ethiopia. The constitution provides for an elected legislature that would choose the president from among its members by a majority vote. However, this system has never been implemented, as national elections have been postponed indefinitely. President Isaias Afwerki has remained in office since independence. Corruption appears to have increased in recent years. Senior military officials have been accused of profiting from the smuggling and sale of scarce goods such as building materials, food, and alcohol; charging fees to assist the growing number of Eritreans who wish to flee the country; and using conscript labor for private building projects.
Civil Liberties: The government controls all broadcasting outlets and banned all privately owned newspapers in a 2001 crackdown. A group of journalists arrested in 2001 remain imprisoned without charge, and as many as half of the original 10 are believed to have died in custody. There was a fresh wave of arrests in 2009, and at least 17 journalists were known to be behind bars at the end of 2010. The government places significant limitations on the exercise of religion. It officially recognizes only four faiths: Islam, Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism, and Lutheranism as practiced by the Evangelical Church of Eritrea. Persecution of minority Christian sects has escalated in recent years. Freedom of assembly is not recognized. Independent nongovernmental organizations are not tolerated, and international human rights groups are barred from the country. In 2010 Eritrea accepted a recommendation by the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent national human rights institution, but no such body had been formed by year’s end. The judiciary has never issued rulings significantly at variance with government positions, and constitutional due process guarantees are often ignored in cases related to state security. Torture, arbitrary detentions, and political arrests are common. The government maintains a network of secret detention facilities and frequently refuses to disclose the location of prisoners to their families. The Kunama people, one of Eritrea’s nine ethnic groups, reportedly face severe discrimination. Freedom of movement is heavily restricted, and most able-bodied men and women are subject to the system of obligatory military service, which is often open-ended in practice. The government has made genuine attempts to promote women’s rights, but traditional societal discrimination against women persists in rural areas. Female genital mutilation was banned by the government in 2007, but the practice remains widespread.
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SUDAN
Capital: Khartoum
Population: 43,200,000
Political Rights: 7
Civil Liberties: 7
Status: Not Free
Ten-Year Ratings Timeline for Year under Review
(Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Status)
| Year under review | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Rating | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF |
2010 Key Developments: Sudan’s first national, multiparty elections in 24 years, held in April 2010, were marred by fraud involving the main parties in the North and the South. President Omar al-Bashir won another five-year term but faced mounting pressure from the International Criminal Court, which in July issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of genocide in the Darfur region. Fighting intensified in Darfur during the year, after one of the main rebel movements pulled out of peace talks. Meanwhile, the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) prepared to hold a referendum on independence from the North in early 2011.
Political Rights: Sudan is not an electoral democracy. The transitional government and legislature in place until May 2010 were unelected, and the presidential and legislative elections of April 2010 failed to meet international standards. There were irregularities at every stage of the polls and voting period. Most candidates were not allowed to campaign freely, and the National Elections Commission was accused of favoring the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). Much of the opposition boycotted the elections, allowing the NCP to win in the North and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement to win in the South. Sudan is considered one of the world’s most corrupt states. Corruption and nepotism are also serious problems in the GoSS, whose institutions are chronically weak. However, an anticorruption commission established by the Southern authorities recovered approximately $5 million in misappropriated funds in 2010.
Civil Liberties: The news media continue to face significant obstacles. The 2009 Press and Publication Act allows a government-appointed Press Council to prevent publication or broadcast of material it deems unsuitable, temporarily shut down newspapers, and impose heavy fines on those who break the rules. However, numerous privately owned dailies and weeklies were able to provide a range of views, including those of the opposition and the GoSS. Religious freedom, though guaranteed by the 2005 interim constitution, is not upheld in many parts of the country. The Christian minority in the North continues to face discrimination and harassment. The operating environment for nongovernmental organizations remained difficult in 2010, particularly in Darfur, where aid workers faced obstruction from the government and rebel groups. The judiciary is not independent. The police and security forces routinely exceed the authority established under the new National Security Act, which gives the intelligence and security service sweeping powers to seize property, conduct surveillance, search premises, and detain suspects without judicial review. Torture is reportedly common. It is widely accepted that the government has directed and assisted the systematic killing of tens or even hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur since 2003, including through its support for militia groups that have terrorized civilians. Human rights groups have documented the widespread use of rape, the organized burning of villages, and the forced displacement of entire communities. Islamic law denies Northern women equitable rights in marriage, inheritance, and divorce. Female genital mutilation is widely practiced.
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SOMALIA
Capital: Mogadishu
Population: 9,400,000
Political Rights: 7
Civil Liberties: 7
Status: Not Free
Ten-Year Ratings Timeline for Year under Review
(Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Status)
| Year under review | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Rating | 6,7,NF | 6,7,NF | 6,7,NF | 6,7,NF | 6,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF |
2010 Key Developments: Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) clung to office in 2010 in the face of a sustained assault by Islamist insurgents. Internal rivalries between President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke resulted in Sharmarke’s resignation, further undermining the TFG’s credibility. The main insurgent group, the Shabaab, tightened its grip over much of southern and central Somalia, enforcing a brutal form of Islamic law in areas under its control. The Shabaab also launched terrorist attacks domestically and abroad, killing six members of parliament and hundreds of civilians in Mogadishu, as well as 74 people in a series of bombings in Uganda.
Political Rights: Somalia is not an electoral democracy. The Somali state has in many respects ceased to exist, and there is no governing authority with the ability to protect political rights and civil liberties. The TFG is recognized internationally but is deeply unpopular domestically, and its actual territorial control is minimal. There are no effective political parties, and the political process is driven largely by clan loyalty. A draft constitution was completed in July 2010 but had not been adopted by the end of the year. Corruption in Somalia is rampant, and UN monitors have reported extensive graft at all levels of the TFG. Since 1991, the northwestern region of Somaliland has functioned with relative stability as a self-declared independent state, though it has not received international recognition. The autonomous region of Puntland, in the northeastern corner of the country, has not sought full independence, declaring only a temporary secession until Somalia is stabilized. Relations between Puntland and the TFG sharply deteriorated in 2010, due in part to frustration with the underrepresentation of Puntland interests in Mogadishu.
Civil Liberties: Although Somalia’s Transitional Federal Charter calls for freedom of speech and the press, these rights are quite limited in practice. Journalists continued to face dangerous conditions in 2010. Militants seized control of two Mogadishu-based radio stations, and a reporter with Horseed FM was jailed for six years for interviewing a warlord accused of supplying arms to the Shabaab. A number of other journalists were killed during the year. Islam is recognized as the official religion, and nearly all Somalis are Sunni Muslims, but there is a very small Christian community. Freedom of assembly is not respected amid the ongoing violence, and the largely informal economy is inhospitable to organized labor. The conflict has forced the nongovernmental organizations and UN agencies operating in Somalia to either reduce or suspend their activities. There is no judicial system functioning effectively at the national level. In many regions, local authorities administer a mix of Sharia (Islamic law) and traditional Somali forms of justice and reconciliation. While the TFG made some efforts to promote human rights, these initiatives had little effect on the ground, where the rights of Somali citizens are routinely abused by the various warring factions. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that there were 1.5 million internally displaced people by year’s end, and an estimated 500,000 others taking refuge in neighboring countries. Women in Somalia face considerable discrimination. Female genital mutilation is still practiced in some form on nearly all Somali girls, and sexual violence is rampant.
Many refugees from these countries are ending up in a surprising place, Israel, which is one of the few places that is actually willing to take in Eritrean and other refugees; over 33,000 Africans alone. There are huge decisions about who can stay, but at least Israel is treating people well and trying to follow UN guidelines for refugees. To read more about the refugee situation, please read my article at Democracy Standard