自由之家報告

The international rights group Freedom House said Wednesday that the prospect of an international system built on democratic ideals is under greater threat now than at any point in the past quarter-century.

Freedom House said in its annual roundup Wednesday that the state of democracy in 2014 was "exceptionally grim." Syria ranked the lowest in the just released annual report, but the group recorded more declines than gains in democratic freedoms around the world.

Freedom House said the one notable exception is Tunisia, which in 2014 became the first Arab country to achieve the status of "free" since Lebanon's civil war four decades ago.

A "troubling number" of economic powers and regionally influential nations slid backwards in their democratic standards, according to Wednesday's report. Dangers to freedom of expression were said to come from state surveillance, Internet restrictions, and curbs on the freedom to make individual decisions on things like education, employment, and travel. Russia, Venezuela, Egypt, Turkey, Thailand, Nigeria, Kenya, Azerbaijan, and Hungary were among the nations noted for such declines.

More troubling, Freedom House said, are more explicit rejections of democratic standards, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, "including the outright seizure and formal annexation of Crimea," which it noted as a "prime example."國際人權組織自由之家星期三說，在民主理念基礎上建立一個國際體系的前景面臨着四分之一世紀以來的最大威脅。

自由之家在星期三發表的年度報告中說，2014年的民主體制處於“特別惡劣”的狀態。在剛剛發表的年度報告中，敘利亞被列爲民主程度最差的國家。在世界範圍內，民主自由事業有所倒退。

自由之家說，突尼斯是一個值得注意的例外。自黎巴嫩40年前爆發內戰以來，突尼斯2014年成爲第一個贏得自由的阿拉伯國家。

星期三發表的報告說，“數目多得令人不安”的經濟強國和具有地區影響力的國家在民主方面開倒車，言論自由受到威脅，其形式包括國家監視、互聯網限制以及限制個人在教育、就業和旅行等方面自由做出決定。俄羅斯、委內瑞拉、埃及、土耳其、泰國、尼日利亞、肯尼亞、阿塞拜疆和匈牙利被列爲在民主自由方面倒退的國家。

自由之家說，更令人不安的是，民主標準遭到更明目張膽的棄絕。俄羅斯對烏克蘭的入侵，“包括對克里米亞的公然攫取和正式吞併”被視爲“突出的例子”。