Freedom of expression and information dissemination in the world fell to the lowest level in the last ten years, and journalism is becoming an increasingly dangerous profession. This follows from the report of the British human rights organization Article 19 and the international research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), writes Kommersant.

Human rights defenders analyzed the situation in 172 countries around the world from 2006 to 2016 on the basis of 32 social and political indicators, including censorship on the Internet, the harassment of journalists, equality of social classes, the level of corruption and.

In particular, censorship on the Internet has intensified over the past 10 years, much of the content there "is regulated by several Internet companies whose standards are not transparent". And governments of different countries are taking unprecedented measures to suppress the voices of dissenters and protests, in particular, non-profit organizations include in the lists of "foreign agents" with all the ensuing consequences and limitations for their work.

"We live in a time when governments around the world are giving up on human rights obligations. Freedom of speech often becomes the first victim: censorship in the name of national security, new laws to protect us from insults and unprecedented shadowing of our private communication, "reads the report.

The most significant deterioration with freedom of speech and opinion, Article 19 notes in Turkey, which the organization calls "the biggest prison for journalists in the world". As of April, there are 152 Turkish journalists in prisons. After last year's coup attempt, more than 170 media outlets (newspapers, websites, television channels, news agencies) were closed, 2,500 journalists were fired.

Among the most disadvantaged countries are also Brazil, Burundi, Egypt, Venezuela, Poland and Bangladesh.

In total 79 journalists were killed in the world last year, 259 journalists were sent to prisons.

In addition, among the countries where "the suppression of political opponents by physical methods has intensified", human rights activists call Turkey, Burundi, Thailand and Russia. And in these same countries, civil society is increasingly suppressed.

But there are positive changes, and among the countries where they occurred, are called Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Source: TeleCritics.