The blatant bias of western organisations who claim to defend human rights and democratic change was out in the open in rankings released by Freedom House. New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada and Germany scored above 90 despite their respective governments clamping down on their own citizens’ demand for access to basic rights.
Actions taken by these countries against their own citizens in the recent past would have invited criticism of being undemocratic or autocratic if replicated by other nations outside the West.
Canada in the Freedom House rankings has been awarded a high score of 98. This comes despite the Canadian government, under the leadership of prime minister Justin Trudeau, taking an aggressive stance against Canadian truck drivers who were opposed to a vaccine mandate.
The government took steps like freezing of financial assets, setting of no-go zones to stall the protests and even forcing a funding website to stop donations to the protesting truckers. The protest was disbanded but questions were raised regarding Trudeau’s reaction to the demonstrations.
It is also worth mentioning that the Canadian prime minister supported the protests against the new farm laws in India. Some of the support aimed at farmer leaders is also feared to have empowered separatist elements like Khalistanis, a concern the Trudeau government chose to ignore.
India earned a score of 66 or ‘Partly Free’ despite the government rolling back the farm laws and listening to farmer leaders. Trudeau chastised the Indian government over the farmers’ protests but chose to distance himself from the protests in his own country and city.
The Narendra Modi government had held several rounds of talks with the farmer unions, while similar action was not seen in Canada vis-à-vis the truckers’ protest.
Jacinda Ardern-led New Zealand fetched a stellar score of 99 on the Freedom House rankings. New Zealand is often praised for its Covid-19 policy, which if looked at closely, impinges on several basic human rights. However, experts often only choose to question zero-Covid policies of China and Hong Kong, whilst ignoring the plight of New Zealanders, many of who believe that the Ardern-led government went over the top with its implementation of Covid norms.
When protests against vaccine mandates and Covid-19 rules were staged in Wellington’s parliament grounds, the New Zealand government pepper-sprayed the demonstrators and used force to disperse them. Despite this, Freedom House chose to put New Zealand at the top of its rankings despite the Wellington riot police clamping down on protesters and Ardern calling the protests “manufactured”.
https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1477781941227167746?s=20&t=iBbiABv7kcLl6lTc0UzzjA
The Netherlands also surprised many with its score of 97. This comes despite widespread condemnation of police action – enough to force Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to rush to Amsterdam – on protesters when they demonstrated against the Dutch Covid-19 mandates. Videos of police dogs being launched at protesters and police hitting people with batons surprised the world, coming from a European nation.
https://twitter.com/GermanyinUSA/status/1508552762296082432
Germany scored 94 and still remains as one of the ‘champions of the free world’. The ranking awarded to Germany also failed to consider that the nation recently asked its security officials to keep an eye out for people who express their support towards Russia after it declared war on Ukraine.
Last month, Germany said that people expressing support towards the Russian Federation or using the ‘Z’ symbol seen in Russian tanks are liable to be prosecuted.
Read the Latest News and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment