Swaziland showed a significant decline in democracy over the past year (2010) and there was very little resistance to it from the democratic world.
The kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is among a group of 25 nations where there was a decline in political rights and civil liberties, according to Freedom House, a watchdog group, based in the United States.
‘Our adversaries are not just engaging in widespread repression, they are doing so with unprecedented aggressiveness and self-confidence,’ said David J. Kramer, executive director of the group. ‘And the democratic community is not rising to the challenge.’
Arch Puddington, director of research at Freedom House, said, ‘Authoritarian regimes will have a much freer hand to silence their domestic critics if there is no resistance from the outside world.’
He was commenting at the launch of Freedom House’s annual report. Freedom House is expected to release a detailed report on human rights in Swaziland sometime during the next three months.
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