Sri Lanka tops freedom of movement in South Asian region

May 03, 2024

political Current Affairs

Sri Lanka tops freedom of movement in South Asian region ^Featured

December 28, 2019

Sri Lanka tops the freedom of movement in the South Asian region according to the ‘Human Freedom Index 2019’ released this month.Sri Lanka has obtained full marks when it comes to ‘freedom of domestic movement’, ‘freedom of foreign movement’ and ‘women’s freedom of movement’ positioning it well above India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. The index does not cover Afghanistan and The Maldives. The ‘Human Freedom Index (HFI) 2019’, that covers 162 countries, has ranked Sri Lanka at 110th position based on 76 indicators of personal and economic freedom for the year 2017.

Compared to 2016, Sri Lanka has dropped four ranks in the latest rankings.The report was co-published by the ‘Cato Institute’, the ‘Fraser Institute’, and the’ Liberales Institut’ at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 represents more human freedom, Sri Lanka has obtained a score of 6.41.This fifth annual index has captured the areas such as ‘Rule of Law’, ‘Security and Safety’, ‘Movement’, ‘Religion’, ‘Association, Assembly, and Civil Society’, ‘Expression and Information’, ‘Identity and Relationships’, ‘Size of Government’, ‘Legal System and Property Rights’, ‘Access to Sound Money’, ‘Freedom to Trade Internationally’, ‘Regulation of Credit’, ‘Labor’, and ‘Business’.
The report shows that Sri Lanka has very poor freedom when it comes to ‘same-sex relationships’ and ‘divorce’. Sri Lanka’s score is ‘nil’ in the freedom of same-sex relationships and 2.5 in the freedom of divorce.As per the report, Sri Lanka’s performance in terms of rule of law has been unsatisfactory with a score of 4.5. The HFI also indicates that media freedom in Sri Lanka has been restricted due political pressure over news and editorial content and laws and regulations that influence media content.
The top ten countries with highest human freedom according to the latest HFI, in order, are New Zealand, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Luxembourg (tied in 6th place), Finland and Germany (tied in 8th place), and Ireland.In the South Asian region, India, Bhutan and Nepal are ahead of Sri Lanka securing the 94th, 105th and 107th ranks respectively in terms of human freedom. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar are lagging behind Sri Lanka when it comes to human freedom obtaining the ranks of 138th, 140th, and 148th places respectively.
Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, Sudan and Iraq are in the bottom line of the Index.Compared with 2016, 70 countries have increased their ratings and 88 countries have decreased their rankings. The report said that the HFI also found a strong relationship between human freedom and democracy.