News: The Commission on Human Rights, the central human rights event on the UN calendar, opens its annual six-week session on 17 March.
Analysis: Every year, Freedom House, an independent think-tank, publishes a freedom index that measures political rights and civil liberties around the globe. Using criteria that examine, among other aspects, freedom of expression, freedom of the media and judiciary, and the right to assembly, countries are ranked on a scale where 1 indicates the most free and 7 the most repressive. The number before the decimal represents its record on political rights. The second number indicates respect for civil liberties.
This year’s Commission includes five of the most repressive states in the world, including the country chairing the Commission – Libya.
| Commission Member | Freedom Index | Commission Member | Freedom Index | |
| Cuba | 7.7 | Senegal | 3.4 | |
| Libya | 7.7 | Sri Lanka | 3.4 | |
| Saudi Arabia | 7.7 | Argentina | 3.3 | |
| Sudan | 7.7 | Brazil | 3.3 | |
| Syria | 7.7 | India | 2.3 | |
| China | 7.6 | Mexico | 2.3 | |
| Vietnam | 7.6 | Thailand | 2.3 | |
| Cameroon | 6.6 | Chile | 2.2 | |
| DR Congo | 6.6 | Croatia | 2.2 | |
| Zimbabwe | 6.6 | South Korea | 2.2 | |
| Algeria | 6.5 | Peru | 1.3 | |
| Bahrain | 6.5 | Belgium | 1.2 | |
| Kenya | 6.5 | Costa Rica | 1.2 | |
| Pakistan | 6.5 | France | 1.2 | |
| Swaziland | 6.5 | Germany | 1.2 | |
| Uganda | 6.5 | Japan | 1.2 | |
| Malaysia | 5.5 | Poland | 1.2 | |
| Russia | 5.5 | South Africa | 1.2 | |
| Togo | 5.5 | United Kingdom | 1.2 | |
| Gabon | 5.4 | Australia | 1.1 | |
| Sierra Leone | 4.5 | Austria | 1.1 | |
| Armenia | 4.4 | Canada | 1.1 | |
| Burkina Faso | 4.4 | Ireland | 1.1 | |
| Ukraine | 4.4 | Sweden | 1.1 | |
| Venezuela | 3.5 | United States | 1.1 | |
| Paraguay | 4.3 | Uruguay | 1.1 | |
| Guatemala | 3.4 | |||
Average Political Rights | 3.5 | Average Civil Liberties | 3.7 |
