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Reflecting on 2024: A Challenging Year for Democracy and Freedom [1]

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Date: 2024-12

To Freedom House’s friends and supporters:

With roughly half the world’s population voting in elections in 2024, we knew it would be a consequential year for democracy and freedom. The polls took place against a backdrop of conflict and uncertainty, as wars persist in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, Myanmar, and elsewhere, threatening not only people’s freedoms but their very lives. Strong democracies such as Germany, France, and South Korea experienced unexpected end-of-year leadership changes. And around the world, the fragility of autocrats who hold power only through force is evident, as we saw in the stunning overthrow of Bashar al-Assad who—along with his father—maintained a brutal hold on power in Syria for over five decades.

The results of the elections, as they relate to the health of democracy, were mixed. As one would expect, in authoritarian regimes where elections are largely performative, leaders won overwhelming victories by manipulating voting systems and persecuting the opposition. Where elections were free and fair, many voters demanded change. Long-ruling parties in South Africa and Japan experienced major setbacks, while in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vastly underperformed expectations. In France, Italy, Spain, and the United States, concerns about inflation and immigration drove support for new leadership.

An alarming uptick in political violence and violent rhetoric surrounding the elections raised concern among democracy watchers. Meanwhile, our Freedom in the World report, released in February, documented the 18th year of decline in global freedom.

As we reflect on 2024 it is clear that our work is critical, and we are deeply thankful to all our supporters and partners for joining us in this essential fight for a world where all people live freely. The challenges we face—in shoring up fragile democracies or supporting democracy defenders living under dictatorships—call for bold, courageous support for democracy and freedom. We need more of both, as the global landscape gets more complicated and the forces of autocracy seek to exploit this moment. We are more determined than ever to identify threats to freedom as they emerge in new places around the world and to support activists on the ground who are pushing back against antidemocratic behavior and policies, often putting their own lives at risk.

We are incredibly proud of the significant contributions we made to the cause of global freedom. Working with partners and with your help, in 2024 we were able to:

Provide more than $7 million in emergency assistance to thousands of human rights defenders and organizations on the front lines of the fight for freedom in more than 130 countries.

Support essential work to gather and analyze evidence related to ongoing atrocities in Sudan.

Directly support over 1,000 human rights defenders and civil society organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Track and monitor cases of transnational repression around the world and advocate to US lawmakers across the political spectrum for important policy changes to help keep those who have fled repression safe in their new host countries. One report highlighted transnational repression on college campuses , helping to make educators and administrators aware of the issue and what needs to be done to address it.

Support a fact-finding mission into the 2023 ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, and advocate in a subsequent report for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s regime to be held accountable for its abuses.

Produce landmark research with partners in Ukraine documenting the Belarusian regime’s complicity in the Kremlin’s effort to displace, indoctrinate, and militarize Ukrainian children. The findings were submitted to the International Criminal Court in order to hold Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka personally accountable for his role in these crimes.

Continue to document the state of global freedom and identify emerging threats through our annual reports, Freedom in the World , Freedom on the Net , and Nations in Transit . The data and insights in these reports fuel important advocacy by on-the-ground human rights defenders and policy changes by leaders in business and government.

Collect and catalogue more than 3,000 instances of public dissent by Chinese citizens against their government. Now in its second year, Freedom House’s China Dissent Monitor is the world’s most comprehensive public repository of dissent occurring in China.

Conduct high-level advocacy for Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alsu Kurmasheva, and other Russian and Belarusian political prisoners in the lead-up to the landmark August 2024 prisoner swap that led to their release.

These are just a few of the many accomplishments our team made to help expand and defend freedom during this crucial year. I hope you’ll read more about the work and impact of our team around the world on our 2024 year-in-review webpage.

I also hope the breadth, depth, and importance of our work inspires you to stay engaged with what we believe is one of the most important questions of our time: In 50 years, will we live freely, in democratic nations where the government serves the interests of the people and is accountable to all citizens, or will we live in tyranny, where wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of a few and our security and freedom is at their whim?

Your support and partnership are critical to our mission. It ensures that Freedom House is able to inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and provide critical support to the people defending democracy and human rights around the world. It means more safe houses, more security training, and more emergency aid for the people who need it most. I hope you will consider making a gift by the end of year, as we anticipate a challenging landscape for 2025.

Our organization’s work remains as important as it has ever been. Autocratic regimes and violent nonstate actors are working to undermine freedoms of people around the world. Those of us who fight to expand and defend those freedoms must continue our work to ensure that we build a world where all are free. The talented team at Freedom House continues its tireless work and looks forward to partnership with you in 2025.

With admiration and thanks,

Nicole Bibbins Sedaca

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[1] Url: https://freedomhouse.org/article/reflecting-2024-challenging-year-democracy-and-freedom

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