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WASHINGTON – The coronavirus pandemic has led to a deterioration in democracy and human rights in 80 countries around the world, including the United States, according to a new report by the human rights organization Freedom House released on Friday.
Governments of countries where freedoms were weak to begin with have responded by “engaging in abuses of power, silencing their critics, and weakening or shutting down important institutions,” the report concludes. Yahoo News received an advance copy of the report, titled “Democracy under lockdown: The impact of COVID-19 on the global fight for freedom.”
“The pandemic has brought a health crisis, an economic crisis, all of this has been recognized. But it is also causing a crisis in human rights and democracy, “said Michael Abramowitz, president of Freedom House, in an interview on” Skullduggery, “a Yahoo News podcast.
Among the 80 countries where Freedom House found democracy and basic freedoms in jeopardy is the United States, which is cited for police violence and restrictions on the media. In his “Skullduggery” interview, Abramowitz warned that President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about the integrity of next month’s presidential election further jeopardize the health of American democracy.
“It was very extraordinary for us that the President of the United States sought to sow confusion and cast doubt on the legitimacy of our election rather than ensure that we get a fair vote,” Abramowitz said. “I cannot in my life remember a president of the United States who has tried to undermine confidence in elections. This has become something of a talking point for him; every day is doing this. It is part of a deliberate strategy to undermine confidence in the elections. “
In its report, Freedom House also blames the Trump administration for “creating a fog of misinformation about the pandemic,” in part by promoting potentially dangerous treatments like hydroxychloroquine, stoking conspiracy theories about government scientists, and lobbying some of those same scientists to alter the data. .
The report is also concerned that Trump was using the pandemic as “a pretext to set aside due process obligations and intensify his crackdown on asylum seekers and immigration in general.”
Repression has taken different forms around the world. In the Balkan country of Montenegro, authorities used fear of viral spread to stop protests organized by members of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which had been fighting with the government over land rights. Meanwhile, Turkey saw an opportunity to blame members of the Islamic nation’s LGBTQ community, which it falsely blamed for spreading the virus.
The inclusion of the United States appears to be another sign of the nation’s chaotic and wavering response, which has resulted in the deaths of nearly 210,000 Americans.
Earlier this year, the State Department released a list of nations where the coronavirus had caused deteriorations in the democratic process and the rule of law. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a foreign policy hawk and close ally of Trump, contrasted “authoritarian regimes,” which he said, “are poorly designed to deal with the kind of crises this pandemic has spawned,” with democracies, “where scientists and freedom and thought and journalists can operate freely.”
