Freedom House has published its latest report Freedom in The World 2020, according to which Serbia, along with 30 other countries, falls within the group with the largest decline in freedoms over the past 10 years. The report includes a chart of 29 countries (including Serbia at 20th place) which have seen the largest decline in freedom over the past decade. The East African country Burundi comes first, followed by Turkey, Mali, the Central African Republic, Venezuela and others.

'In Montenegro and Serbia, independent journalists, opposition leaders and others have been viewed by the authorities as enemies and as such have faced various types of harassment, numerous threats and sometimes even violence. The frustration of the general public with the ruling coalition has evolved into major protests in both countries but have not managed to cause any major changes,' the report concludes.

Montenegro has been rated as a partly free country and ranked 62nd. The Western Balkan countries are still on the list of those with partial freedom. Only Croatia (85th) is characterized as a free country. Albania is 67th, Serbia is 66th and Montenegro is 62nd, Kosovo is 56th and Bosnia and Herzegovina is 53rd and is characterized as partially free.

The Freedom House report states, among other things, that the gap between progress and decline in the world has widened. People in 64 countries experienced worsening of their political rights and civil liberties in 2019, while in only 37 countries they experienced improvements. The difference was smaller in 2018, when 68 countries went backward and 50 advanced.

As democratic states show unsuccessful support for freedom on the international scene, authoritarian forces have expanded their global influence through proxy wars, meddling in elections and censorship beyond their borders, the report concluded.