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Updated Wednesday, January 14, 2009 9:52 am TWN, CNA

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Taiwan tops Freedom House rights survey

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan earned the highest score for its political rights and the second highest score for its civil liberties in the 2009 “Freedom of the World” survey released in Taipei yesterday by the U.S.-based international human rights organization Freedom House.

Maintaining its 2008 classification as one of the world's “free” countries, Taiwan was given the highest possible score of “1” in the political rights category and a “2” in civil liberties, while China, classified in the “Not Free” category, scored a “7” in political rights and “6” in civil liberties, on a scale of 1 to 7, according to the report findings.

A rating of 1 indicates the highest degree of freedom and 7 the least amount of freedom.

According to the Freedom House, Taiwan was chosen as the host for this year's release because the country holds a strategic position in Asia, not only geographically and economically, but also as one of its most vibrant democracies.

Published since 1972, “Freedom in the World” is an important publication that provides an assessment of political rights and civil liberties in every country worldwide and a number of important territories, according to the organization. The report analyzes each country based on a number of specific issues that determine the country's freedom status — either “free,” “partly free” or “not free.”

Overall, Finland was ranked as the world's freest country among the 193 countries and 16 strategic territories surveyed, while North Korea was rated as the least-free country, the report said.

Speaking at a press conference in Taipei to launch the report, Freedom House Director of Studies Christopher Walker said that 89 countries were placed into the “free” category, 62 classified in the “partly free” category, while the remaining 42 nations were listed in the “not free” category.

He stressed that his organization observed more negative developments in freedom than positive ones over the past year, with 34 countries registering declines as opposed to 14 making headway.

In Sub Saharan Africa, for instance, Walker pointed out that a significant decline in freedom had been observed, and described 2008 as a year of “substantial reversals” for nearly one quarter of the region's countries, including Zimbabwe, Burundi, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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