13:05, 4 March, 2020
YEREVAN, MARH 4, ARMENPRESS. The political opening in Armenia that began with Nikol Pashinyan’s rise to the premiership in 2018 had a positive effect on Nagorno Karabakh during 2019, according to the Freedom in the World 2020 report published by the Freedom House.
According to the report, “there was an increase in competition and civil society activity surrounding local elections in September, and the stage was set for further changes in the 2020 elections for Nagorno Karabakh’s president and parliament. Unfortunately, the Eurasia region’s other breakaway territories, which are all occupied by Russian troops, remained locked in a pattern of stagnation or decline in political rights and civil liberties”.
The report in general registered a grim picture in Eurasia in terms of human rights and fundamental freedoms, but states that some positive signs were evident in several of the region’s Partly Free environments, including in Armenia and Ukraine.
As for the other regions of the world, the report says democracy faces obstacles around the world in 2020. Not only China, Russia and Iran, but also a number of other countries with democracy traditions recorded a regress. In terms of freedoms, the worst condition is recorded in Syria, Eritrea, South Sudan, Turkmenistan and North Korea.