Most Repressive

es ten further countries near the bottom of Freedom House’s list of the most repressive: Belarus, China, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The territory of Western Sahara is also included in this group. While these states scored slightly better than the “worst of the worst”, they offered very limited scope for private discussion while severely suppressing opposition political activity, impeding independent organizing, and censoring or punishing criticism of the state.

Of these countries, six are members of the UN’s human rights commission: China, Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.