Freedom House Releases 2023 Human Rights Scores
Here's How Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, China and Russia Fare (Hint: Not Well)
In 1941, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, allied with Republican Wendell Wilkie to found Freedom House. In its early days, FH was preoccupied with the fascism and Nazism threatening the globe in World War II. In the 1950s, the NGO opposed McCarthyism and began looking deeply at the connection between human rights and the democratic process, concluding that civil liberties are critically dependent upon strong voting rights, democratic processes at all levels, and legal protections for freedom and equality.
In the early 1970s, Freedom House began to assess nations and territories on a scale of 0 to 100 along two dimensions:
Political Rights, on a scale of 0 to 40, and
Civil Liberties, on a scale of 0 to 60.
In aggregate, this gives a country a score of 0 to 100—though a country’s abuse of political or civil rights can descend into negative territory.
The new pact between virulent enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran, brokered by China, is a deal made by three states that have some of the worst human rights scores of all the world’s states.
SAUDI ARABIA—Political Rights: 1 of 40. Civil Liberties: 7 of 60. TOTAL SCORE: 8 of 100.
IRAN—Political Rights: 4 of 40. Civil Liberties: 8 of 60. TOTAL SCORE: 12 of 100.
CHINA—Political Rights: -5 of 40. Civil Liberties: 11 of 60. TOTAL SCORE: 6 of 100. … In even worse shape is Tibet with, against which China has waged war for 59 years: Tibet’s scores, which are entirely the result of Chinese abuse stand at: Political Rights: -2 of 40. Civil Liberties: 3 of 60. TOTAL SCORE: 1 of 100.
The worrying problem is that China’s participation would likely not have happened without the approval of Russia, which may even have instigated it. Another player in this is Iraq, for both Iran and Saudi Arabia are eager to have Iraq side with them.
IRAQ—Political Rights: 16 of 40. Civil Liberties: 13 of 60. TOTAL SCORE: 29 of 100.
RUSSIA—Political Rights: 5 of 40. Civil Liberties: 11 of 60. TOTAL SCORE: 16 of 100.
The bottom line is that if Russia can pull Saudi Arabia away from the United States and Israel and tame Iraq, it can own the Middle East, as it is already heavily allied with Iran, which is supplying drones to Russia for use against Ukraine. Matters would then be worse for Israel, democracy in the region, and the human rights of all the citizens of all five countries. In terms of global threats, Russia and China top the list for their ambitions for control are fathomless.
The full report from Freedom House, titled Freedom in the World 2023, is available at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2023/marking-50-years