Malta freedom score goes down… again
Public servants “faced retribution” for criticising the government
Malta’s freedom ranking has again been downgraded, with researchers blaming “retribution” faced by public servants after criticising those in power.
US-based monitor Freedom House regards Malta as “free” but, at 90 out of 100, has given it a lower score for the third year in a row.
In 2019, Malta scored 91, dropping from 92 points in 2018 and 96 in 2017.
Forty countries obtained better scores than Malta and three others were level in the ranking. In 2019, 35 countries per-formed better.
A spokesperson for Freedom House told Times of Malta the latest downgrade was “due to concerns that individuals, particularly public servants, have faced retribution after criticising the ruling party or other powerful actors”.
The report, Freedom in the World 2020, evaluates the state of freedom in 195 countries and 15 territories in 2019, with-out going into detail about each country. Each country is assigned 0 to 4 points on a series of 25 indicators, for an aggregate score of up to 100.
The indicators are grouped into two categories: political rights (0-40) and civil liberties (0-60), whose totals are weighted equally to determine whether the country or territory has an overall status of free, partly free, or not free.
Malta scored 35 out of 40 points for political rights and 55 out of 60 points for civil liberties.
Country-specific reports are to be published and they will go into detail about each of the 25 indicators.
Sweden, Norway and Finland again rank top of the list, scoring full marks.
On the other end of the scale, Syria scored no points and Tibet was given a single point.
First published in 1973, the ranking, considered a world institution in the sector, provides a tracking of global freedom trends.