BELARUS DIGEST

Washington-based think tank Freedom House was unimpressed by liberalization recently declared by Belarusian authorities.

Fair enough – Belarus does not have a single TV or radio station which would be critical of the its government. Poland did a good job in supporting Belsat, the only independent TV station broadcasting to Belarus, but its influence is still marginal. Watching Belsat requires a satellite dish or Internet – a luxury which most Belarusians cannot afford.

Although a few independent newspapers are still allowed to circulate, their impact is negligible. Government-tun newspapers are heavily subsidized and state institutions are required to subscribe to them and to force employees to do the same.

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Below is an overview of position of Belarus in various international rankings. The overview suggests that although human potential of the country is relatively good, the country has serious problems with freedom. As a result, the realization of this potential is blocked.

Freedom

Freedom House measures freedom in its annual publication “Freedom in the World 2009″, which includes review of political and civil liberties in the world in 193 countries. Belarus is in the category of “not free” countries. In the category of “political rights” Belarus ranked the worst with 7 points, in the category “civil liberties” – 6 points. Overall assessment of democratic freedoms in some other countries included in the study of “Freedom House”: Czech Republic (2,18), Estonia (1.93), Lithuania (2,29), Moldova (5,07), Poland (2,25 ), Ukraine (4,39).

Economic Freedom

Heritage Foundation and the The Wall Street Journal – overview of economic freedom in the world in 179 countries.

As a result of 2009 Belarus received an overall assessment of 48.7 points and occupies the 150-th place. Among the worst post-Soviet countries behind Belarus are Uzbekistan (158), Ukraine (162) and Turkmenistan (171). The highest index of economic freedom in Europe is Ireland (81,3), which occupies the 5th place in the ranking. At the bottom of the ranking are Cuba, Zimbabwe and North Korea.

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WASHINGTON — Freedom House released its country reports on freedom in the world. Belarus remains the only European country classiffied as “Not Free”.

A few former Soviet Union countries did better — Ukraine and Baltic States are regarded “Free”, while Moldova, Georgia and Kyrgystan are “Partially Free”.

Here is the summary of the report on Belarus:

Hopes that President Alyaksandr Lukashenka might loosen his grip on Belarus in 2008 proved illusory. After brutal crackdowns and additional arrests, Belarus released all of its political prisoners in August. The regime also agreed to allow international observers to monitor its September parliamentary elections. However, the monitors determined that the elections did not meet democratic standards, and no opposition members won representation, leaving them without a platform to influence political processes.

Separately, the regime passed new legislation that tightened control over the media and extended it to the internet. Relations with Russia grew increasingly tense during the year, as Moscow continued to exert pressure to obtain higher prices for its energy exports and to acquire Belarusian companies through privatization. Despite strong European Union interest in improved relations, the absence of democratic reforms in Belarus made any progress extremely difficult.

Read full text of Freedom House report on Belarus at freedomhouse.org.