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The United States has been praised for its progressive human rights record at times and strongly criticized for some of its policies and practices at other times..

The United States is committed to freedom of religion and has sheltered many religious, political, and economic refugees. It has an independent judiciary that enforces the separation of powers to prevent tyranny of the majority and protects individual rights and collective rights as enumerated by the United States Constitution.

The United States government is still criticized for human rights violations, particularly in the . ] and where national security is a concern, but to date no major violations have been proven. Some critics (in both friendly and hostile countries) have made unproven allegations that the U.S. Government has complicity for serious human rights abuses (including torture., abduction., assassination., and imprisonment without trial).. Unproven allegations have been made against the United States for allegly violating the national sovereignty of Iran, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, and Iraq..

Supporters of the United States Government point out that a disproportionately high level of attention is given to given the U.S. human rights record in comparison with attention given to other nations with egregious human rights records. Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan explains, "If we focus on the U.S. it's because we believe that the U.S. is a country whose enormous influence and power has to be used constructively ... When countries like the U.S. are seen to undermine or ignore human rights, it sends a very powerful message to others.".

Overview

On September 17 1787 the United States Constitution was adopted, which created what a distinguished progressive liberal democracy that guaranteed unprecedented individual rights, social, collective rights, and economic rights . for all its citizenry. The American system aims at a free society where life, liberty and many inalienable human rights that are not enumerated specifically but are guaranteed by its Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. Civil liberties in the United States of America are built on what has been described as a self-evident truth that all men are created equal with natural human rights. The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, individual property rights, and the right to a fair trial and trial by jury.

Most U.S. citizens tend to be optimistic about the United States Constitution. It is still a work in progress and constitutional amendments are continuously under consideration as the needs of the society of the United States change. A substantial amount of Americas have been surveyed as being opposed to the government's positions on capital punishment, the War on Drugs, or gay rights.

Equality

Racial

From the 1640s until the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the slave states had legal slavery of African Americans. On July 9 1868, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guaranteed principles of legal egalitarianism; however, separate but equal, which allowed racial segregation in the South was upheld until the Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe decisions in 1954. Lynching of African Americans was relatively common until the middle 20th century, when lynching was targeted on a federal level.

Gender

Males and females have equal rights.

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Affirmative action

Affirmative action in the United States is a policy or a program of increasing the representation of certain socio-politically non-dominant groups, typically disadvantaged minorities or women, allegedly seeking to redress discrimination or bias through active measures, as in education and employment. It is usually achieved through the use of discrimination and preferential treatment for those groups. Affirmative action is banned in all government agencies in three states (California, Michigan, and Washington); however, affirmative action is practiced elsewhere throughout the United States on both State and Federal levels. There have been multiple court cases challenging affirmative action as being constitutional, as some view affirmative action as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Sexual orientation

Massachussetts is the only state that allows same-sex marriage. Denying same-sex marriage is seen by some as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Human Rights Campaign, the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equal rights organization in the United States, has taken an active stance promoting same-sex mariage as a fundamental human right.

Same-sex marriage has been targeted on a federal level:

In 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act stated no state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need recognize a marriage between persons of the same sex, even if the marriage was concluded or recognized in another state and the Federal Government may not recognize same-sex or polygamous marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.

In 2002 and 2004, the Federal Marriage Amendment was introduced, which would define marriage in the U.S. as a union between one man and one women, would prevent judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or unmarried couples, and would prevent people from having multipe spouses; however, the bill did not pass.

Opponents of same-sex marriage often argue from a religious basis that marriage is solely capable of being between one man and one woman, while proponents argue religious beliefs are irrelevant and in contradiction to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Freedoms and privacy

Freedom of expression

In the United States, like other liberal democracies, freedom of expression (including speech, media, and public assembly) is seen as an important right and is given special protection. According to Supreme Court precedent, the federal and lower governments may not apply prior restraint to expression. There is no law punishing insults against the government, ethnic groups, or religious groups. Symbols of the government or its officials may be destroyed in protest, including the American flag. Significant legal limits on expression per se include:

• Crimes involving sexual obscenity, solicitation, fraud, specific threats of violence, or disclosure of classified information.
• Civil offenses involving defamation, fraud, or workplace harassment
• Federal Communications Commission rules governing the use of broadcast media.
• Ordinances requiring mass demonstrations on public property to register in advance.
• The use of free speech zones and protest free zones.
• Pornography considered to be obscene.

Some laws remain controversial due to concerns that they infringe on freedom of expression. These include the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. Other recent issues include military censorship of blogs written by military personnel that include sensitive information ineligible for release.

In two high profile cases, grand juries have decided that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller must reveal their sources in cases involving CIA leaks. Time magazine exhausted its legal appeals, and Mr. Cooper eventually agreed to testify. Ms. Miller was jailed for 85 days before cooperating. U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan ruled that the First Amendment does not insulate Time magazine reporters from a requirement to testify before a criminal grand jury that's conducting the investigation into the possible illegal disclosure of classified information.

As of June 2004, over a dozen foreign journalists who arrived in the United States without an I-visa were apprehended and deported. The journalists were unaware of requirement, as open societies generally do not have a special visa requirement for journalists, as such with countries like Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Zimbabwe.

National security exceptions

The United States government has suspended (or claimed exceptions to) various guaranteed rights on national security grounds, typically in wartime and conflicts (such as the United States Civil War, Cold War or the War against Terror). In some instances the federal courts have allowed these exceptions, while in others the courts have decided that the national security interest was insufficient.

Historical restrictions

Sedition laws have sometimes placed restrictions on freedom of expression. The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed by President John Adams during an undeclared naval conflict with France, allowed the government to punish "false" statements about the government and to deport "dangerous" immigrants. The Federalist Party used these acts to harass supporters of the Democratic-Republican Party. While Woodrow Wilson was president, another broad sedition law called the Sedition Act of 1918, was passed during World War I. Its provisions were so strict that the government imprisoned for 10-years, one Hollywood director for making a film about the American Revolution because it depicted the British unfavorably. It also caused the arrest and ten year sentencing of Socialist Party of America Presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs for speaking out against the atrocities of WWI, although he would later be released early by President Warren G. Harding. Countless others, labeled as "subverts" (especially the Wobblies), were investigated by the Woodrow Wilson Administration.

Presidents have claimed the power to imprison summarily, under military jurisdiction, those suspected of being combatants for states or groups at war against the United States. Abraham Lincoln invoked this power in the American Civil War to imprison Maryland secessionists. In that case, the Supreme Court concluded that only Congress could suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and the government released the detainees. During World War II, the United States interned thousands of Japanese-Americans on fears that Japan might use them as saboteurs.

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution forbids unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant, but some administrations have claimed exceptions to this rule to investigate alleged conspiracies against the government. During the Cold War, the Federal Bureau of Investigation established COINTELPRO to infiltrate and disrupt left-wing organizations, including those that supported the rights of black Americans.

National security, as well as other concerns like unemployment, has sometimes led the United States to toughen its generally liberal immigration policy. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 all but banned Chinese immigrants, who were accused of crowding out American workers.

War on Terror

More recently President George Bush has asserted that the granting of Authorization for Use of Military Force by Congress implied the right as President to override FISA, the law protecting US citizens from unlawful communications surveillance. The USA PATRIOT Act has been attacked as eroding Fourth Amendment protections.

Today foreign nationals can be detained or deported for minor infractions, although deportation is not as common as it use to be. The government is sometimes accused of skirting the required legal procedures. Tracking of immigrants has also increased as part of the anti-terrorism campaign, so that foreigners arriving by air are now subject to mandatory fingerprinting and photography. Since 2002, male adults from any of two dozen countries, most of them Muslim, have been subject to Special Registration. The United States is sometimes criticized for the effects of its border control efforts; for instance, between 1998 and 2004, 1,954 persons are officially reported to have died along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Termination of pregnancy

The debate over acceptability of abortion is sometimes framed as a human rights issue, either of the mother (to choose), or the fetus (to live). Roe v. Wade (1973) established that most laws against abortion violate a constitutional right to privacy. However, public debate continues, and the constitutionality of both positions are frequently challenged.

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Inhumane treatment

Death penalty

The United States, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore are the only developed nations to use capital punishment in practice during peacetime. This practice is controversial. Death penalty opponents regard the death penalty as inhumane and criticize it for its irreversibility and claim that it lacks a deterrent effect. The Heritage Foundation citing the massive damage done to communities by violent crime says that "any lesser punishment is tougher on innocent people". The death penalty has been abolished in District of Columbia and thirteen states, mainly in the Northeast and Midwest.

Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 there have been 1077 executions in the United States (as of May 23, 2007). There were 53 executions in 2006. Texas overwhelmingly leads the United States in executions, with 379 executions from 1976 to 2006; the second-highest ranking state is Virginia, with 98 executions

A ruling on March 1, 2005 by the United States Supreme Court prohibits the execution of people who committed their crimes when they were under the age of 18. Between 1990 and 2005, Amnesty International recorded 19 legal executions in the United States for crime committed by a juvenile.

It is the official policy of the European Union and a number of non-EU nations to achieve global abolition of the death penalty. For this reason the EU is vocal in its criticism of the death penalty in the US and has submitted amicus curiae briefs in a number of important US court cases related to capital punishment.

Some opponents criticize the overrepresentation of blacks on death row as evidence of the unequal racial application of the death penalty This over-representation is not limited to capital offenses, in 1992 although 12% of the US population, about 34% of prison inmates were from this group.

Euthanasia

The debate whether a terminally-ill person has the right to decide the time of death (euthanasia) and whether the families of patients who have permanently lost all brain activity can end medical care or stop feeding. At present such debates frequently end up being re-enacted in court as opposing sides fight for their views.

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Health care

Unlike most other industrialized nations, the United States does not offer its citizens universal health care. However, anyone who requests treatment at a hospital emergency room is always treated. The US is unusual in that people who are illegal immigrants are treated without charge at hospital emergency rooms. 46.6 million Americans, or 15.9 percent, were without health insurance coverage in 2005. The rapidly expanding population of immigrants account for most of the "increases in U.S. residents without health insurance, according to a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. While the study did not distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants, estimates are that at least a quarter of all immigrants are undocumented, most from Mexico." The US is unusual in that people who are illegal immigrants are treated without charge at hospital emergency rooms.

Prison system

Some have criticized the United States for having an extremely large prision population, where there have been reported abuses. As of 2004 the United States had the highest percentage of people in prison of any nation. There were more than 2.2 million in prisons or jails, or 737 per 100,000 population, or roughly 1 out of every 136 Americans.

Examples of mistreatment reported at one California prison included: prisoners left naked and exposed in harsh weather or cold air; "necessary" and "routine" use of rubber bullets and pepper spray, forced immersion in scalding water causing second and third degree burns (one documented case); four-point restraint of the mentally ill for hours or days without break; solitary confinement of violent prisoners in soundproofed cells for 23 or 24 hours a day; and a range of injuries from serious injury to fatal gunshot wounds, with force at one California prison "often vastly disproportionate to the actual need or risk that prison staff faced" Such behaviors are illegal, and "professional standards clearly limit staff use of force to that which is necessary to control prisoner disorder". Not only are such abuses illegal, they are uncommon, and only "rogue officers, rogue shifts, and rogue commands sometimes dispense outright corporal punishment on their charges."

Human Rights Watch raised concerns with prisoner rape and medical care for inmates. In a survey of 1,788 male inmates in Midwestern prisons by Prison Journal, about 21% claimed they had been coerced or pressured into sexual activity during their incarceration and 7% claimed that they had been raped in their current facility. Tolerance of serious sexual abuse and rape in United States prisons, consistently reported as widespread. It has been fought against by organizations such as Stop Prisoner Rape.

International human rights

Support for human rights

The US department of state publishes a yearly report "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record" in compliance with a 2002 law which requires the Department to report on actions taken by the U.S. Government to encourage respect for human rights. It also publishes a yearly "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices." In 2006 the United States created a "Human Rights Defenders Fund" and "Freedom Awards." The United States also support democracy and human rights through several other tools.

Coverage of international human rights violations in the media

Studies have found that New York Times coverage of worldwide human rights violations is biased, predominantly focusing on the human rights violations in nations where there is clear U.S. involvement, while having relatively little coverage of the human rights violations in other nations.

Alleged violations of national sovereignty

Beginning in the 1950s, following both World Wars and the commencement of the Cold War with the Communist states, a strong Red Scare, and the influence of theories such as the domino theory, the United States became more involved in the affairs of other countries. In multiple cases there is evidence that foreign policy included intervention aimed towards pro-American government and against perceived possible Communist dictatorships, involving improper subversion, regime change, and support for abusive dictatorships; however, the only confirmed violated international law was the intervention in Nicaragua. Possible examples of violations of national sovereignty include:

1953 Iranian coup d'état‎ — British and US supported coup in 1953, which removed the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran. Partly because his policies of nationalization (in particular of the oil industry) which was perceived as threatening to their economic interests, partly because Iran was pereceived at the time as possibly turning into a Communist dictatorship. The support is said to have included "bribery, libel and orchestrated riots". The Shah, who after the coup ruled autocratically, committed numerous human rights violations. This change ultimately set the conditions for polarization of opposition through religion, and led to the Iranian Revolution and ensuing religious dictatorship in 1979. There has however, never been any finding of any violation of international law.

Operation PBSUCCESS — US supported coup in 1954, which removed the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala. Partly this was for econmic reasons, Arbena was forcing the "United Fruit Company to sell some of its unused land for distribution to peasants". Partly because Guatemala was perceived by the US at the time as turning into a Communist dictatorship. Regardless, "Within a few years after the 1954 coup, Guatemala fell into a maelstrom of guerrilla war and state terror in which hundreds of thousands of people died", and starting a "cycle of violence, assassination and torture".

1973 Chilean coup d'état — The role of US in the coup is disputed, see the article.

Support of the rebel Contras against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the 1980s — The Reagan administration, as part of the Cold War and perceiving the Sandinistas as Communist, provided support to the rebel Contras, a group implicated in serious human rights violations including rape, murder, torture, and severing the limbs of live humans. The case of Nicaragua v. United States was heard by the International Court of Justice which found that the United States had violated international law. The United States disagreed that the court had jurisdiction or power over its actions and did not consider itself bound by its ruling.

2003 invasion of Iraq — During the George W. Bush administration, in support of a War on Terror after the 9/11 attacks and closely following the War in Afghanistan, the United States invaded the nation of Iraq under the authority of the 1990 UN Security Council Resolution authorizing an invasion of Iraq. This lead to the Iraq War which overturned Saddam Hussein's regime and lead Iraq into civil conflict. There has however, never been any finding of any violation of international law in regard to this invasion by the UN Security Council, on which the United States holds one of five permanent seats with veto power over all resolutions; this the only international body with judicial authority to find a "crime of aggression". :See Also: Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq:

Treatment of captured non-citizens

International and U.S. law prohibits torture and other ill-treatment of any person in custody in all circumstances. The United States Governmet has categorized a large number of people as unlawful combatants, a classification which denied the privileges of prisoner of war (POW) designation, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions; those to whom protection is recognised as due are lawful or privileged combatants. Once a combatant is found by a competent tribunal to be an unlawful combatant, he or she no longer has the rights and privileges accorded to POW, but he or she retains all the rights any other civilian would have under municipal and international law in the same situation.

Certain practices of the United States military and Central Intelligence Agency have been condemned domestically and internationally as torture. A fierce debate regarding non-standard interrogation techniques exists within the US civilian and military intelligence community, with no general consensus as to what practices under what conditions are acceptable.

Abuse of prisoners is considered a crime in the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice. There are no known cases where military personnel have committed human rights abuses without being subjected to investigation, and usually trial and conviction for their crimes. According to a Human Rights First report, there were 45 suspected or confirmed homicides while in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. Allegedly "Certainly 8, as many as 12, people were tortured to death." In 2004 photos showing humiliation and abuse of prisoners leaked from Abu Ghraib prison, causing a political and media scandal in the US. Six military personal were charged with prisoner abuse in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The harshest sentence received was Charles Graner, who received a 10 year sentence to be served in a military prison.

Extraordinary rendition

United States citizens and foreign nationals are occasionally captured (and at times claimed to be abducted) outside of the United States and transferred to secret US administered detention facilities, sometimes being held incommunicado for periods of months or years, a process known as extraordinary rendition.

According to The New Yorker, "The most common destinations for rendered suspects are Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Jordan, all of which have been cited for human-rights violations by the State Department, and are known to torture suspects." There are also allegations that persons categorized as prisoners of war have been tortured, abused or humiliated; or otherwise have had their rights afforded by the Geneva Convention violated.

In 2005 Amnesty International expressed alarm at the erosion in civil liberties since the 9/11 attacks. According to Amnesty International:

The Guantánamo Bay detention camp has become a symbol of the United States administration’s refusal to put human rights and the rule of law at the heart of its response to the atrocities of 11 September 2001. It has become synonymous with the United States executive’s pursuit of unfettered power, and has become firmly associated with the systematic denial of human dignity and resort to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that has marked the USA’s detentions and interrogations in the "war on terror".

Amnesty International also condemned the Guantánamo facility as "the gulag of our times," which raised heated conversation in the United States. The purported legal status of "unlawful combatants" in those nations currently holding detainees under that name has been the subject of criticism by other nations and international human rights institutions including Human Rights Watch and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC, in response to the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan, published a paper on the subject The legal situation of unlawful/unprivileged combatants (IRRC March 2003 Vol.85 No 849). See Unlawful combatant. HRW cites two sergeants and a captain accusing U.S. troops of torturing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Notable cases

In November 2001, Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen, was captured by Afghan Northern Alliance forces in Konduz, Afghanistan, amongst hundreds of surrendering Taliban fighters and was transfered into U.S. custody. The U.S. government alleged that Hamdi was there fighting for the Taliban, while Hamdi, through his father, has claimed that he was merely there as a relief worker and was mistakenly captured. Hamdi was transferred into CIA custody and transfered to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, but when it was discovered that he was a U.S. citizen, he was transferred to naval brig in Norfolk, Virginia and then he was transferred brig in Charleston, South Carolina. The Bush Administration identified him as an unlawful combatant and denied him access to an attorney or the court system, dispite his Fifth Amendment right to due process. In 2002 Hamdi's father filed a habeas corpus petition, the Judge ruled in Hamdi's favor and required he be allowed a public defender; however, on appeal the decision was reversed. In 2004, in the case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld the U.S. Supreme court reversed the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition and ruled detainees who are U.S. citizens must have the ability to challenge their detention before an impartial judge.

In December 2004, Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen, was apprehended by Macedonian authorities when traveling to Skopje because his name was similar to Khalid al-Masri, an alleged metor to the al-Qaeda Hamburg cell. After being held in a motel in Macedonia for over three weeks he was transferred to the CIA and extradited to Afghanistan. While held in Afghanistan, El-Masri claims he was sodomized, beaten, and repeatedly interrorgated about alleged terrorist ties. After being in custody for five months, Condoleezza Rice learned of his detention and ordered his release. El-Masri was released at night on a desolate road in Albania, without apology, or funds to return home. He was intercepted by Albanian guards, who believed him to be a terrorist due to his haggard and unkept appearance. He was subsequently reunited with his wife who had returned to her family in Lebanon, with their children, because she thought her husband had abandoned them. Using isotope analysis, scientists at the Bavarian archive for geology in Munich analyzed his hair and verified that he was malnourished during his disappearance.

Assessments of human rights organizations

According to the annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, the United States was ranked 53rd from the top in 2006, 44th in 2005. 22nd in 2004, 31st in 2003 and 17th in 2002,

According to the annual Corruption Perceptions Index by the Transparency International United States was ranked ranked 20th from the top in 2006, 17th in 2005, 18th in 2003, and 16th in 2002.

According to Freedom in the World, an annual report by Freedom House, which rates political rights and civil liberties, in 2007, the United States was been ranked the highest possible rating.

The Polity data series, which rate regime and authority characteristics, covering the years 1800-2004, has ranked the United States with the highest possible rating since 1871.

See also

• Civil rights
• United States and the International Criminal Court

History

• McCarthy Era
• First Red Scare
• Second Red Scare

External links

• Censorship in the US from IFEX
• Human Rights from United States Department of State
• Human Rights from United Nations
• Publications on the United States from Amnesty International
• United States: Human Rights World Report 2006 from Human Rights Watch
• United States Human Rights Network
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights from United Nations

References

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46. "CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described". 2005-11-18. Retrieved 2007-05-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
47. "Non-standard interrogation techniques" are alleged to have at times included:
    Extended forced maintenance of "stress positions" such as standing or squatting; psychological tricks and "mind games"; sensory deprivation; exposure to loud music and noises; extended exposure to flashing lights; prolonged solitary confinement; denigration of religion; withholding of food, drink, or medical care; withholding of hygienic care or toilet facilities; prolonged hooding; forced injections of unknown substances; sleep deprivation; magneto-cranial stimulation resulting in mental confusion; threats of bodily harm; threats of rendition to torture-friendly states or Guantánamo; threats of rape or sodomy; threats of harm to family members; threats of imminent execution; prolonged constraint in contorted positions (including strappado, or "Palestinian hanging"); facial smearing of real or simulated feces, urine, menstrual blood, or semen; sexual humiliation; beatings, often requiring surgery or resulting in permanent physical or mental disability; release or threat of release to attack dogs, both muzzled or un-muzzled; near-suffocation or asphyxiation via multiple detainment hoods, plastic bags, water-soaked towels or blankets, duct tape, or ligatures; gassing and chemical spraying resulting in unconsciousness; confinement in small chambers too small to fully stand or recline; underwater immersion just short of drowning (i.e. dunking); and extended exposure to extreme temperatures below freezing or above 120 °F (48 °C).
48. "Human Rights First Releases First Comprehensive Report on Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody". Human Rights First. 2006-02-22. Retrieved 2007-05-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
49. "Prisoner Abuse: The Accused". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
50. Mayer, Jane (2005-02-14). "Outsourcing Torture". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-05-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
51. "Guantánamo and beyond: The continuing pursuit of unchecked executive power". Amnesty International. 2005-05-13. Retrieved 2007-05-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
52. "New Account of Torture by U.S. Tropps, Soldiers Say Failures by Command Led to Abuse". Human Rights Watch. 2005-09-24. Retrieved 2007-05-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
53. Markon, Jerry (2006-05-19). "Lawsuit Against CIA is Dismissed". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-05-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
54. Georg Mascolo, Holger Stark: The US Stands Accused of Kidnapping. SPIEGEL ONLINE, February 14, 2005
55. "North Korea, Eritrea and Turkmenistan are the world's "black holes" for news". Reporters Without Borders. October 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
56. "East Asia and Middle East have worst press freedom records". Reporters Without Borders. October 2004. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
57. "Cuba second from last, just ahead of North Korea". Reporters Without Borders. October 2003. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
58. "Reporters Without Borders publishes the first worldwide press freedom index". Reporters Without Borders. October 2002. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
59. Polity IV data sets

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