Written testimony by Project Director of Nations in Transit for Freedom House, Nate Schenkkan.

On August 30, the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Freedom House joined 32 organizations to highlight the systematic practice of enforced disappearance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and to call on states and multilateral and international institutions to take timely action to address impunity for this crime.

A few reminders of the Russian dictator’s track record as President Trump heads to his summit in Finland.

Challenges to American democracy are testing the stability of its constitutional system and threatening to undermine political rights and civil liberties worldwide, according to the latest edition of Freedom in the World. 

The tragic February 6 earthquakes did not put even a day’s pause on politics. Instead, they raised the stakes in what already felt like an existential election.

Iran suffered declines, and 93 percent of the region’s people still live in countries rated Not Free.

Persecution of artists only validates the power of artistic expression as a catalyst for change.

The government’s decision to reignite the Kurdish conflict is a cynical ploy to recover the ruling party’s parliamentary majority. It is also a disastrous strategic blunder that has drawn in the United States.

As it rightly presses Russia to halt the bombing of civilian targets in Syria, the United States is supporting an abusive air campaign by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

Different degrees of political fragmentation in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine have had a variety of effects on conditions for the media—most of them negative.