USA: Worldwide decline of democracy – “corruption” in Austria
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sees a global decline in democracy. “For many years we have witnessed an alarming decline in the rule of law and respect for human rights in many parts of the world,” Blinken said Tuesday at the release of the US government’s annual human rights report in Washington. “Corruption in the government as well as anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim motivated violence” are mentioned in relation to Austria.
Unfortunately, this development has changed since the report was published last year. “Few places have the consequences of human decline been seen as clearly as in the Russian government’s brutal war against Ukraine.”
Devastating testimony
The report gives Russia a damning testimony. The country has a highly centralized, authoritarian political system that was ruled by President Vladimir Putin, they say. There are credible reports of human rights violations such as extrajudicial executions, life-threatening conditions in prisons, politically motivated reprisals, severe repression of freedom of expression and the media, persecution of peaceful dissidents and religious minorities, or severe repression of peaceful freedom of assembly.
Among other things, the report says about Austria: “The significant human rights problems include (…) serious corruption in the government as well as anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim motivated violence or threats of violence.”
“Today, more than a million political prisoners are incarcerated in more than 65 countries,” lamented the US Secretary of State. “We have also seen an increase in the arbitrary detention of individuals by governments trying to leverage bilateral relations to use them as human collateral.”