Emirates Leaks: an international index classifies the UAE as a repressive, non-free country
An international index classified the UAE as a repressive and not free country in light of the widespread violations committed by the ruling regime to crush freedoms.
The index issued by the American Freedom House Foundation provided new evidence of the severity of the tyranny practised in the Emirates.
The index awarded the UAE only 17 points out of a hundred, and it was classified as not free.
The UAE won only five points in political rights and 12 points in civil liberties.
Freedom House ranks countries based on 25 indicators to assess the state of democracy in a given country (or lack thereof).
The cumulative result then enables the organization to classify a particular country as free, partly free or not free.
Of the 195 independent countries assessed, 73 saw a decline in the score, and only 28 saw growth.
Thus, 54 countries are now classified as “not free”, or about 38 per cent of the world’s population.
Less than 20 per cent of the world’s population lives in countries currently classified as “free”.
Freedom House is headquartered in the United States – a charitable organization that researches political freedom and human rights.
Sweden, Finland and Norway scored 100 points out of 100 points, ranking first, followed by New Zealand (99 points).
The report indicated that the countries at the bottom of the Freedom Index are North Korea with 3 points, Eritrea (two points), South Sudan (two points), Turkmenistan (two points), then Syria (one point) and Tibet (one point) out of 210 countries and regions in the evaluation.
Most of the European continent countries came in the list of free nations and several countries, most notably the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.
The report highlighted that the Emirates’ elections, like most Arab countries, are rare, rigged, or postponed until the other’s notice.
The Arab countries also suffer from significant problems, most notably favouritism, sectarianism, external interference, and the concentration of the keys to wealth and influence in a particular group’s hands.
This is in addition to the suppression of opposition and popular protests and the denial of peoples’ freedom to express their opinions without restrictions.
Tunisia was the only Arab country to be included in the “free country” classification.
The UAE ranked 15th in the list of Arab countries in the classification.
