World human rights guide /

This revised edition covers human rights in 120 countries. Its percentage-rating system is its most important difference from descriptive annuals, such as the US State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights or Amnesty International Report (1961-). Some 40 categories of rights are evaluated in 90 countries, but only summary information is given for the rest. This is misleading because summary entries are rated differently. Only careful reading reveals that a rating of ``poor'' equals 41 to 75 percent, a wide range. The 1985 State Department report notes the ``conceptual difficulty in applying a single standard'' to countries with different traditions and political realities, hence the rating system may obscure more than it explains. The Guide excludes Lebanon, Chad, and other contested places, but these areas often have the worst abuses. Although the compiler defends his ``Western, liberal'' bias, it can result in misunderstandings. For example, he states that confrontation in South Africa may lead to a ``moderation of apartheid,'' but the South African majority wants political power, not white moderation. Humana's use of the terms ``Bantu'' and ``tribal'' are unconscionable. In addressing human rights violations, the purpose should be not to rate them, but to stop them. The Amnesty International Report does this very well and its work is much more straightforward and useful.-A. Kagan, University of Connecticut

Both of these works assess the relative freedoms and rights of individuals in various nations worldwide. Published annually since 1978, Freedom in the World is the result of the thirteenth Comparative Survey of Freedom conducted by the nonprofit American organization Freedom House. (See RBB, March 1, 1985, for a review of the previous edition.) Raymond Gastil, director of the survey since its inception, has also written several books and scholarly articles in the social sciences. The first edition of World Human Rights Guide, published in 1983 (and reviewed in RBB, November 14, 1984), was compiled in Britain by Charles Humana, a journalist, literary writer, and human rights activist. Freedom in the World is divided into six major sections of which only sections 1, 5, and 6 have clear reference value. (In this 1985-86 yearbook, sections 2, 3, and 4 the content of which varies from year to year are extended essays and conference reports on international communications, strengthening American support for liberalization in Eastern Europe, and aspects of the struggle for democracy.) Section 1 contains detailed descriptions of the freedom survey, the criteria used for evaluating freedom, and what the survey tries to accomplish, as well as comparative ratings and tables. Section 5 has summaries of results of each of the 167 countries covered, and section 6, similar summaries for territorial possessions. The survey is based on a checklist of 12 political rights, e.g., ``significant opposition vote'' or ``free of foreign control,'' and 14 civil liberties, e.g., ``freedom of assembly and demonstration'' or ``free religious institutions.'' Each country is rated from one (best) to seven (worst) with regard to the general categories of political rights and civil liberties of its inhabitants. Ratings are not offered for individual criteria in the checklist; rather, a ``status of freedom'' (free, partially free, or not free) is assigned to each country to summarize the findings. Charts in section 1 group together countries by ratings for political rights, civil liberties, and the status of freedom. Particular attention is paid to advances in freedom and significant changes from previous surveys. Historical charts note the ratings of each country from 1973 through 1985. The country summaries in section 5 again note individual survey ratings, as well as population, type of economy, and government. The status of political rights and civil liberties in each country is capsulized in a one-paragraph summary. Information on relative freedom as compared to other countries is also presented, e.g., ``Turkey is as free as Malaysia, freer than Yugoslavia, less free than Spain.'' Territorial summaries in section 6 are grouped by country of ownership and are similar to the country information in section 5. There is an index to names, organizations, countries, and topics appearing in the text sections, but the tables in section 1 and the country and territorial summaries are not indexed. Boldfaced type is used in the index to note major topics. World Human Rights Guide includes information about human rights in 120 major countries. Countries with populations of less than one million and non-United Nations members, other than Hong Kong, North and South Korea, Switzerland, and Taiwan, are omitted. The data were compiled from a 40-item questionnaire, based on three UN documents: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Unlike the previous edition no human rights criteria outside of those noted in these documents were used for the questionnaire. Responses to the questions were gathered from embassies, correspondents and other contacts, and an extensive literature search. Arrangement of data is alphabetical by country rather than the continental grouping used in the first edition. Entries are of two types: full assessments of h