During 2020, freedom around the world declined for the 15th straight year, according to Freedom House in its annual country-by-country assessment of political rights and civil liberties. The group now says fewer than one fifth of the world lives in “fully free” countries, the lowest percentage since 1995. “This year’s findings make it abundantly clear that we have not yet stemmed the authoritarian tide,” said Sarah Repucci, vice president of research and analysis at…

COVID-19's impact on efforts to combat gross human rights violations will be a major focus of the 46th regular session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.  The four-week session, which starts Monday in Geneva, will be held virtually because of the pandemic.  It will kick off with a three-day high-level segment when nine heads of state and other dignitaries from more than 130 countries will address the U.N. Human Rights Council by video.      U.N. officials say the vast…

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western powers Sunday of using jailed opposition figure Alexey Navalny to try to “contain” Russia, saying Russia’s recent “numerous successes,” including the development of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, were “starting to irritate” Moscow's opponents.  His remarks came amid word that a series of videos of pro-Putin flash mobs, broadcast by state-controlled media and posted online, were staged, as people featured said they were…

A storied Russian liberal politician has sparked an outbreak of infighting among the country’s opposition groups after mounting a scathing attack on Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, arguing the path he would take the country down wouldn’t lead to a life free of repression.   “Everyone must decide whether to support Navalny or not,” Grigory Yavlinsky wrote this week. “But you need to understand. A democratic Russia, respect for people, and a life without fear and repression…

“Who cares about him?” Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a December news conference when asked about Alexey Navalny, the Kremlin critic who survived a near-fatal poisoning and was arrested last month in Moscow on his return following life-saving treatment in Germany.   The answer came on two consecutive weekends of protests, the largest displays of mass discontent with Putin since 2011. And in a sense Putin answered his own question with the heavy-handed…

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has nominated Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya for the Nobel Peace Prize, two sources with knowledge of the matter said Saturday. Nauseda nominated the activist, who has been living in Lithuania since fleeing her homeland in the wake of a disputed August 9 presidential election, to show his support for the Belarusian democratic movement and its demand for free elections, one of the sources said. Months of mass…

Twenty-six journalists have demanded that Voice of America’s director resign after a series of alleged retaliatory measures and firewall violations culminated in the reassignment of one of VOA’s most high-profile reporters.   A statement shared publicly Thursday accuses director Robert Reilly and his deputy director, Elizabeth Robbins, of violating VOA’s journalistic code by giving a senior government official “a free platform to speak live on our channels” by arranging a…

COVID-19 pandemic and protests led to a record number of journalists jailed in retaliation for their work, a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists finds 

Press freedom is under assault globally, as authorities seek to silence critical reporting by jailing journalists, according to new data from the Committee to Protect Journalists. A record 274 journalists are in jail worldwide, with China, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia leading the field as the worst offenders, the press freedom organization’s annual survey shows. It is the fifth year in a row that more than 250 were imprisoned. The 2020 count is “the worst on record”…

Security forces in Belarus have detained dozens of people as opposition demonstrators staged scattered marches and rallies in Minsk and other cities to pressure strongman leader Alexander  Lukashenko to make political concessions.  Human rights group Vyasna said that nearly 180 people were detained during the protests on December 13, with most of the arrests reported in Minsk.  According to local news outlet Nasha Niva, more than 120 marches took places across the…