Unfree: The Least Free Places on Earth

 UNFREE…The Least Free Places on Earth This is a Baker’s Dozen of countries where the word ‘freedom’ is not spoken.  Not surprising, the list begins with:

North Korea

North Koreans have the lowest level of freedom in the world. In fact, North Korean society is completely regimented. All power is held by Kim Jong Il, who assumed power in 1994 on the death of his father, Kim Il Sung. North Korea maintains a network of prison camps where thousands of ‘political prisoners’ are subjected to brutal conditions. Everything in North Korea is controlled from  employment, to education, to where one can live, what medical care one can receive, even where one can shop. There are 53 different security ratings based on a family’s perceived loyalty to the regime.

Burma

Constantly in the News, this country is ruled by a junta, led by Senior General Than Shwe.  Burma is not governed by law as much as decree. Once a wealthy nation, the corruption and political mismanagement has caused it to be one of the poorest countries in the world. Since it’s landslide defeat in the 1990s elections the regime has committed widespread human rights abuses. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest for most of the past 19 years. Peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks were brutally suppressed in the fall of 2007, leading to international condemnation. This means nothing to those who rule Burma.

Equatorial Guinea

This is the archetypical example of a kakistocracy. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo holds political power in a country that has never held a credible election. It is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, with Obiang and his inner circle amassing huge personal wealth from Equatorial Guinea’s substantial oil profits. Human rights abuses — including torture, detention of political opponents, and extrajudicial killings — are widespread.

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is the most repressive of the states created at the collapse of the Soviet Union. President Niyazov, the previous head of the Turkmen Communist Party, took power in 1991. His first acts were isolating the country, gutting formal institutions, muzzling the media, and creating an elaborate personality cult around himself, complete with a gold-plated statue that revolved to always face the sun. Upon his death in 2006, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov took power and promised reforms, pushing through a new constitution and removing the statue. That is about all he has done. The country remains a one- party state in which all aspects of political and civil life are strictly controlled.