The Freedom House organization, headquartered in Washington, has published its annual report assessing that Kosovo and Albania remain “partly free” countries despite progress in some areas for the advancement of human rights and civil liberties.

In the report on “Freedom in the World”, Kosovo is rated with 60 points out of 100 maximum points, with no change from the previous year. In the past, Freedom House has described Kosovo as a country in transition with a hybrid governance system.

Meanwhile, in the Global Freedom Index, Albania is rated 68 points, marking an improvement of one point compared to the assessment of the previous year. Albania is also considered a country in transition with a hybrid system of governance.

Alexandra Karppi, the Balkans expert at Freedom House, told Voice of America that the situation in Kosovo cannot be separated from the dynamics of developments between Kosovo and Serbia.

“In recent years, Kosovo has made progress, reflected in the results, regarding the protection of human rights and civil liberties, more beneficial political processes, enabling citizens to participate more freely, and a more active civil society. These things have certainly shown progress in recent years,” Karppi stated.

According to her, the year 2023 was difficult for Kosovo.

“We have seen an increase in violence in the northern municipalities, which can cast doubt on many processes and may put pressure on the government to ensure that it provides protection for all citizens of Kosovo,” emphasized Karppi. “These are long-term processes. This is a complex security situation.”

According to her, “although there are concerns about media freedom and journalist safety, significant progress has been made in respecting the rights of minorities and religious rights”.

“Kosovo remains one of the leading countries in the Western Balkans in some of the important and fundamental pillars of democracy.”

Regarding Albania, Karppi highlighted the improvement in the vetting process, which, according to her, “has begun to make progress by forcing Albania to combat corruption in the judiciary”.

According to Karppi, this means that in Albania, the courts are now in a better position to serve citizens and are more efficient.

“This means that in Albania, citizens’ access to the justice system is significantly improving, and this progress should be appreciated,” she added.

Karppi says that the lack of transparency and dysfunctional governance continue to be concerns in Albania. She mentioned the conduct of local elections, during which, she said, “an environment for freer and fairer elections has not been created”.

“Overall, Albania has progressed this year by giving citizens the opportunity to participate again in democratic processes by adhering to commitments to reforms taken before the European Union.”

The report, which assesses the progress of 195 states and 15 territories during 2023, based on evaluations in the field of political rights and civil liberties, characterized the overall global situation of political rights and human liberties as “a broadly escalated situation”.

According to Freedom House, political rights have declined for 18 consecutive years. Decline has been noted in 52 states, while only 21 countries have shown improvement during 2023. Currently, out of the 195 countries and territories evaluated, according to the report, the majority of the world’s population, around 80 percent, lives in countries classified as partly free or not free.

In particular, the organization highlighted that manipulated elections, such as those in Ecuador, Cambodia, Poland, Turkey, and other countries, and armed conflicts, some prompted by authoritarian regimes, such as Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh and Russia against Ukraine, or the war between Israel and Hamas, causing numerous civilian casualties, have contributed to the overall regression during 2023.

Freedom House emphasizes that Serbia has recorded the largest decline in Europe. It is assessed with 57 points, falling three points in the category of political rights and civil liberties from the previous year. Serbia is also on the list of states that, according to the organization, have experienced the greatest decline in freedom over the past decade, with 21 points.

According to Karppi, the elections held in Serbia at the end of 2023, challenged by opposition parties, “were just one of the reasons for the decline”. Other factors, according to Karppi, include the lack of transparency regarding procurement, infrastructure projects, and economic development policies, as well as smear campaigns against opposition leaders and critics of the Belgrade regime.

“There is currently a fear of any kind of retaliation if you sharply criticize this government. So, generally, a deteriorated picture,” she added. “We are seeing a narrowing space for the protection of human rights and also a fading functioning of democratic institutions.”

This year, according to the report, the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh recorded the largest decline, where 120,000 Armenian residents were forced to leave their homes under the military pressure of Azerbaijan.

“The spread and scale of escalation are wide and affect one-fifth of the world’s population,” the organization’s report states. “Almost everywhere, the decline in rights has been caused by attacks on pluralism, peaceful coexistence of individuals with different political, religious, or ethnic identities.”

At the top of the Freedom House list, Finland ranks with 100 points, followed by New Zealand and Sweden with 99 points.