Ariel Rusila's Conflicts [Ex-BalkanPerspective]

Different aspects of freedom are fundamental value of human rights in Balkans as well globally. While starting of a year it’s good time to check the near past and make some benchmarking. Rankings or ratings are one kind of (process) benchmarking in which organizations or in this case states evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice. In 1 st part of my "Freedom in Balkans" serial I make a short update about political rights and civil liberties. Part 1 - Political Rights and Civil liberties In my article “ Freedom in Balkans ” On September 2008 I wrote about the freedom ratings with political rights, civil liberties, religious and press freedom in Balkans. Now Freedom House released the findings from the latest edition of Freedom in the World 2009 , the annual survey of global political rights and civil liberties. The ratings reflect an overall judgment based on survey results and global events from Jan. 1 st through Dec. 31 st 2008. In m...

Earlier I wrote about political rights, citizen liberties and press freedom in Balkans (" Freedom in Balkans ") . To travel from one country to other is a fundamental freedom restricted however more or less depending about which passport the traveler holds. In practice traveling especially nowadays is restricted because lack of money but I limit this article only formal visa restrictions. Visa restrictions play an important role in controlling the movement of foreign nationals across borders. They are also an expression of the relationships between individual nations, and generally reflect the relations and status of a country within the international community of nations. Visa restrictions also are reflecting the political situation of the time e.g. some 20 years ago citizens of Yugoslavia could travel relatively free, but the breakup wars changed situation completely. The Henley Visa Restrictions Index Henley & Partners is a firm specialized in international imm...