November 01-2013
A new rating system designed to show how well countries are at empowering their own people to act on public issues gives the Islamic Republic an astoundingly low score with only two countries rated even worse than Iran.
The ratings only covered about half the countries in the world because of a lack of information about many countries. Of the 109 countries rated, only Uzbekistan and Congo-Kinshasa are rated worse than Iran.
This comes despite the efforts of Mohammad Khatami when he was president to promote greater civic participation.
The ratings were compiled by CIVICUS, a group formed in 1993 and based in South Africa. It is dedicated to promoting citizen participation in governance.
Danny Sriskandarajah, the secretary general of CIVICUS, said, “Despite countless promises from governments that they will protect civil society, the majority of citizens around the world live in environments in which they do not have the capacity to participate freely and fully in the activities, organizations and movements that seek to better their lives and improve their societies.”
He released the group’s index ranking the ability of citizens to participate in civil society in their countries.
The top 10 countries and their scores are:
1 New Zealand 87
2 Canada 85
3 Australia 84
4 Denmark 81
5 Norway 80
6 USA 79
Sweden 79
Iceland 79
Switzerland 79
Netherlands 79
The bottom 10 countries and their scores are:
100 Vietnam 37
Angola 37
102 Ethiopia 36
103 Zimbabwe 35
Guinea 35
105 Gambia 32
106 Burundi 31
Iran 31
108 Uzbekistan 29
109 Congo-Kinshasa 26