Georgia among ‘Partly Free’ countries in Freedom house rating

According to the Freedom in the World 2017 report by the Freedom House international human rights organization, Georgia maintains its position among ‘Partly Free’ countries, scoring 64 out of 100 points. The organization’s evaluation system shows that Georgia was scored the same points last year.

As it is pointed out in the organization’s report, the situation in Georgia in terms of democracy is better than in its neighbor states. According to the report, the democracy level in Georgia has slightly improved after the Georgian Dream’s coming into power in 2012.

“There are still problems with TV owners, as well as those related to the rule of law. From time to time there were certain problems with charges and conviction on political ground, though Georgia is in the better situation than its neighbors and some other Eurasian states. We are satisfied with Georgia’s chosen trend and the democratic society in a rather complicated neighborhood,” Arch Paddington, the Freedom House spokesperson, told Rustavi TV.

Freedom House divides countries into 3 categories according to the degree of their freedom:  Free, Partly Free and Not Free.

According to the Freedom in the World 2017 report, of the total 195 countries assessed, 87 countries (45%) were rated Free, 59 countries (30%) were rated Partly Free, whereas 49 countries (25%) were evaluated by Freedom House as Not Free.

As far as Georgia’s neighbors are concerned, Russia and Azerbaijan were scored 20 and 14 out of 100 points, respectively, and they were rated as Not Free countries. Turkey  (38 points) and Armenia (45 points) were rated as Partly Free countries.