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The Freedom Of Expression And Information Is Essential For The Promotion And Preservation Of Democracy

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Throughout the world, human rights are viewed in many different ways. While some individuals take their rights for granted or view them as privileges, others view them as nonexistent. The reason people view them as nonexistent is because often times their human rights are violated by unfair economic structures and corrupt government systems. In order to best understand human rights, one must focus on the base that forms all of them, and that base is freedom of expression. When citizens are given the freedom to express one’s opinions and thoughts as well as the freedom to listen and explore others opinions and thoughts, it is then when a democracy can be formed. However, many countries around the world seek to function as democracies but fail to do so because their governments deny their citizens the freedom to have a voice. Therefore, it is dictatorships and struggling democracies, such as the one present in Eretria, that demonstrate how the right to freedom of expression and information is essential for the promotion and preservation of democracy. Eretria’s government uses a combination of media monopoly, restriction from technology, the threat of journalist incarceration, and restriction of journalist’s movement in the country, to maintain power and create anything, but a democracy.
Eritrea’s oppressive media climate is largely due to its long history of a corrupt government system. The country declared its independence from Ethiopia in 1993 and has since been under the

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