Expanding Freedom and Democracy

Free Them All: A Political Prisoners Initiative is a new Freedom House project intended to help free political prisoners and push back against the jailing of activists as a tool of repression. Located around the globe, the stories of these artists, journalists, and activists illustrate the significant pressures and harms that human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists face in reprisal for their work and why they need our support.

Nigeria will host one of its most high-stakes elections in decades on February 25, 2023. Freedom House's Election Watch team previews the unique threats facing this election, the biggest among them the violent activities of several non-state armed groups who have publicly expressed a wish to scupper the country’s vulnerable democracy.

Despite increasingly repressive rule under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), dissent in China occurs regularly and is geographically widespread, according to new analysis by Freedom House. The first edition of the China Dissent Monitor recorded 668 instances of dissent in China from June to September 2022, as people spoke out against stalled housing projects, labor rights violations, fraud, COVID-19 policies, and state violence, among other grievances.