A
new report from the Freedom House says the people of The Gambia are having
partial freedom after the electoral victory of President Adama Barrow that ends
former President Yahya Jammeh’s over two decades rule in 2016. According to the
report, The Gambia moved from the not free status under President Jammeh’s 22
years rule to partially free status in 2017 after the forceful ending of his
draconian regime. “The Gambia secured one
of the largest-ever improvements in Freedom in the World for 2017, registering
a 21-point score increase and moving from Not Free to Partly Free. For more
than two decades, the country had suffered under the oppressive rule of
President Yahya Jammeh, who first took power in a military coup. Under his
regime, government opponents, independent journalists, and rights activists
faced intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture, and forced disappearance,” the
report noted.According to this
year’s Freedom in the World report, compiled by Freedom House, 88 countries
earned free status while 58 and 49 had partially free and not free status
respectively.
Syria, South Sudan, Eritrea,
North Korea, Turkmenistan, Equatorial Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Uzbekistan,
Sudan, Central African Republic and Libya were the worst of the worst countries
in the not free status.
The report adds that “Political
rights and civil liberties around the world deteriorated to their lowest point
in more than a decade in 2017, extending a period characterized by emboldened
autocrats, beleaguered democracies, and the United States’ withdrawal from its
leadership role in the global struggle for human freedom.”
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