Table Of Content
Nevertheless, government performance on FOIA requests declined during Trump’s presidency, and in 2020 the coronavirus-induced transition to remote work by government employees produced a sharp drop in responsiveness to information requests at the federal, state, and local levels. State laws that deny voting rights to citizens with felony convictions continue to disproportionately disenfranchise Black Americans, who are incarcerated at significantly higher rates than other populations. All but two states suspend voting rights during incarceration for felonies; the majority provide for automatic restoration, either upon release or after parole or probation, though in some cases financial penalties must also be paid, and 11 states impose additional steps and obstacles to restored suffrage. A growing number of states have eased these restrictions in recent years, but the issue remains controversial.
The Consolidation of Digital Authoritarianism and Looming Threat of Artificial Intelligence
Examples included his objections to economic relief for Democratic-led states during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his reluctance to release federal emergency aid to California as it faced catastrophic wildfires in August. Among Republicans, a divide emerged between state officials involved in administering the elections, who generally defended the fairness of the process and the accuracy of the results, and many members of Congress, who gave credence to Trump’s claims and cast doubt on Biden’s victory. Following the Electoral College vote, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell recognized Biden as the president-elect, but other Republican leaders, including several senators and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, continued to support efforts to contest the results.
Press & Media
Freedom House Foundation hosts first of its kind graduation ceremony - YourErie
Freedom House Foundation hosts first of its kind graduation ceremony.
Posted: Fri, 19 Apr 2024 21:59:52 GMT [source]
The frequent use of drone aircraft and camera networks, sometimes in conjunction with facial-recognition technology, to monitor protest activity in 2020 prompted complaints about privacy violations and led some protesters to adapt their tactics to make identification more difficult. Because the designations of Free, Partly Free, and Not Free each cover a broad swath of the available scores, countries or territories within any one category, especially those at either end of the range, can have quite different human rights situations. For example, those at the lowest end of the Free category (with lower political rights or civil liberties scores) differ from those at the upper end of the Free group (with higher political rights or civil liberties scores).
Twelve Questions for US Presidential Primary Contenders
Belarus emerged as another fleeting bright spot in August, when citizens unexpectedly rose up to dispute the fraudulent results of a deeply flawed election. Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s repressive rule had previously been taken for granted, but for a few weeks the protests appeared to put him on the defensive as citizens awakened to their democratic potential despite brutal crackdowns, mass arrests, and torture. By the start of 2021, however, despite ongoing resistance, Lukashenka remained in power, and protests, more limited in scale, continued to be met with detentions. Political rights and civil liberties have become even more restricted than before, and democracy remains a distant aspiration.
Key to Scores and Status
The complete list of the questions used in the scoring process, and the tables for converting scores to status, appear at the end of this essay. Explore the interactive Freedom in the World 2021 map here, where you can view country scores, Freedom Status, and also view by trend. Visit our Countries in Detail page to view all Freedom in the World 2021 scores and read individual country narratives. In 1975 the service shut down after the city of Pittsburgh launched its own ambulance service — based on Freedom House’s singular achievements. Safar and Hallen began recruiting unemployed Black men from the Hill to receive medical training in order to implement Safar’s ideas for pre-hospital emergency care while providing vital — and high-quality — ambulance service to area residents. He believes the story of Freedom House is the perfect narrative for this moment in time — as the world is attempting to heal and learn from the racial justice uprisings that took place in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
A Leaderless Struggle for Democracy
Additional services include 12-Step recovery, group therapy, family counseling, and relapse prevention to promote sustained recovery. Freedom in the World assesses the real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals, rather than governments or government performance per se. Political rights and civil liberties can be affected by both state and nonstate actors, including insurgents and other armed groups. Taiwan overcame another set of challenges in 2020, suppressing the coronavirus with remarkable effectiveness and without resorting to abusive methods, even as it continued to shrug off threats from an increasingly aggressive regime in China. Taiwan, like its neighbors, benefited from prior experience with SARS, but its handling of COVID-19 largely respected civil liberties.
A surge of criticism followed revelations in September that a doctor at an immigration detention center in Georgia had performed invasive and unnecessary medical procedures, including hysterectomies, on detained women. These problems and evolving enforcement and sentencing policies have contributed to major increases in incarceration over time. The population of sentenced state and federal prisoners soared from about 200,000 in 1970 to some 1.4 million as of 2019.
We enhance their ability to fight corruption, document and promote accountability for human rights abuses, and demand equal rights, especially for at-risk communities. We also conduct targeted campaigns for the release of imprisoned activists so that they can continue their work, often in exile, and help bring democratic change to their countries. In Venezuela, which has experienced a dizzying 40-point score decline over the last 15 years, some hope arose in 2019 when opposition National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó appeared to present a serious challenge to the rule of dictator Nicolás Maduro. The opposition named Guaidó as interim president under the constitution, citing the illegitimacy of the presidential election that kept Maduro in power, and many democratic governments recognized his status. In 2020, however, as opponents of the regime continued to face extrajudicial execution, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detention, Maduro regained the upper hand.
At the same time, the number of countries worldwide earning a net score improvement for 2020 was the lowest since 2005, suggesting that the prospects for a change in the global downward trend are more challenging than ever. With India’s decline to Partly Free, less than 20 percent of the world’s population now lives in a Free country, the smallest proportion since 1995. As repression intensifies in already unfree environments, greater damage is done to their institutions and societies, making it increasingly difficult to fulfill public demands for freedom and prosperity under any future government. The impact of the long-term democratic decline has become increasingly global in nature, broad enough to be felt by those living under the cruelest dictatorships, as well as by citizens of long-standing democracies. Proponents of this idea include official Chinese and Russian commentators seeking to strengthen their international influence while escaping accountability for abuses, as well as antidemocratic actors within democratic states who see an opportunity to consolidate power. They are both cheering the breakdown of democracy and exacerbating it, pitting themselves against the brave groups and individuals who have set out to reverse the damage.
Reversal of US Trade Policy Threatens the Free and Open Internet TechPolicy.Press - Tech Policy Press
Reversal of US Trade Policy Threatens the Free and Open Internet TechPolicy.Press.
Posted: Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
The increased policy focus on reforming the criminal justice system in recent years has coincided with a series of widely publicized incidents in which police actions led to civilian deaths. Most of these prominent cases involved Black civilians, while Native Americans are reportedly killed by police at a higher rate per capita than any other group. Only a small fraction of police killings lead to criminal charges; when officers have been brought to trial, the cases have typically ended in acquittals or sentences on reduced charges.
Nearly two dozen countries and territories that experienced major protests in 2019 suffered a net decline in freedom the following year. The report also features case studies on policy responses to transnational repression in nine important host countries. Our research and analysis frame the policy debate in the United States and abroad on the progress and decline of freedom. Beginning soon after his inauguration in 2017, the president issued a series of three executive orders barring travel from a group of Muslim-majority countries on security grounds, twice revising the original order in response to lawsuits claiming that the bans were blatantly discriminatory. In 2018 the Supreme Court upheld the third version, which banned most entries by citizens of Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and one non-Muslim country, North Korea.
The overall unionization rate in the United States rose slightly to 10.8 percent in 2020, but this reflected the year’s pandemic-related job losses rather than an actual increase in the number of unionized workers. The country’s labor code and decisions by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) during Republican presidencies have been regarded as impediments to organizing efforts, but even Democratic administrations have largely failed to reverse the deterioration. Among other tactics, many employers categorize workers as contractors or use rules pertaining to franchisees to prevent organizing. In recent years, large protests and aggressive law enforcement responses have been sparked by highly publicized police killings of Black civilians, many of which were recorded on video.
Democrats held 46 Senate seats, and there were two independent senators who generally vote with the Democrats. In the House, the Democratic majority was reduced to 222, while the number of Republicans rose to 211; results in one district remained pending at year’s end, and one elected Republican died of COVID-19 in late December. Research clearly demonstrates that recovery is far more successful and sustainable when loved ones like family members participate in rehab and substance abuse treatment. Genetic factors may be at play when it comes to drug and alcohol addiction, as well as mental health issues. Family dynamics often play a critical role in addiction triggers, and if properly educated, family members can be a strong source of support when it comes to rehabilitation.
At the end of the year, there was no plausible legal or constitutional means for Trump to change the outcome. Many Republicans nevertheless refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of Biden’s planned accession to the presidency in January 2021. In California, dual-diagnosis addiction treatment programs offer comprehensive care for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Programs include medically assisted detox, intensive outpatient, outpatient, residential rehab, and partial hospitalization. Using an evidence-based approach, clinicians utilize therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy, or dialectical behavioral therapy and mindfulness to address substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health challenges.
Wright’s design was completed in 1925 and shortly thereafter in 1926 the Freeman’s began to undertake a series of interior alterations which reflected their personal tastes rather than Wrights. The owners commissioned notable modernist architect and Wright protégé Rudolf Schindler to design and supervise the work. The Freeman’s developed a close personal relationship with Schindler, who served as the family architect until his death in 1953. Located in the Hollywood Hills, the Freeman House is the smallest of four Southern California textile block residences designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built during the 1920s. In 1986, at the time of Harriet’s death, the home was donated to the University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Architecture who stewarded the property until its sale in 2022.
