Freedom House identifies Ukraine as Partly Free country

International human rights organization Freedom House included Ukraine to a partly free countries. This is stated in the report for 2016, published on the website of the organization.

human rights activists evaluated each country according two criterias (level of political rights and civil liberties) on a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 - the best indicator, and 7 - the worst. Ukraine, as a year ago, received 3 points for both criteria (partly free).

 Ukraine has 61 points in 100-point system (the more - the freer the country).

'Ukraine continues to recover from the disorder that surrounded the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych from the presidency in 2014, as well as the related crisis sparked by Russia’s occupation of Crimea and military support for separatists in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine. The authorities’ failure to prosecute extensive high-level corruption has undermined the popularity of the government and affected reform efforts in a wide range of sectors. In the sphere of civil liberties, political pressure and attacks on journalists have threatened freedom of the press." - the report says.

Of the 195 countries assessed, 87 (45 percent) were rated Free, 59 (30%) - Partly Free, and 49 (25%) - Not Free.

The Middle East and North Africa region had the worst ratings in the world in 2016, followed closely by Eurasia.  Of the 49 countries designated as Not Free, the following 11 (Syria, Eritrea, North Korea, Uzbekistan, South Sudan, Turkmenistan, Somalia, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Saudi Arabia) have the worst aggregate scores for political rights and civil liberties.

Ukraine was considered partially free since the announcement of its independence in 1991 and until the Orange Revolution. The country considered as free during the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, but the situation deteriorated after Viktor Yanukovych came to power.