The annual assessment of human rights around the world was released by the US State Department on Tuesday. The report includes excerpts on various countries, such as Iraq, where sectarian violence, terrorism, and acts of revenge by armed groups have hindered government efforts to establish and maintain the rule of law. Sunni Arab groups like al Qaeda in Iraq and Shia militias with ties to the Iraqi Security Forces have been involved in violent activities targeting each other's communities. PAKISTAN: Despite President Musharraf's pledge to promote democracy and 'enlightened moderation,' Pakistan's human rights situation remained dismal. Security forces continued to engage in extrajudicial killings, while arbitrary arrests and torture were widespread. Corruption was rampant in both the government and police forces. 

RUSSIA: Russia saw a further consolidation of power in the hands of the executive branch, with changes to election laws and new regulations on political parties giving the government extensive control over their operations. When considering the compliant State Duma, corruption, selective law enforcement, political pressure on the judiciary, and limitations on NGOs and the media, these factors contributed to a decrease in government accountability. In Afghanistan, progress has been made in human rights since the Taliban's fall in 2001, but the country's human rights record continues to be poor with reports of arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, torture, and harsh prison conditions. North Korea remains one of the world's most repressive regimes in 2006, controlling all aspects of citizens' lives and restricting freedoms such as speech, press, assembly, association, movement, and worker rights. Between 150,000 to 200,000 individuals, including political prisoners, were kept in detention camps where many of them perished due to torture, starvation, disease, and exposure. In Myanmar, the military regime employed executions, rape, torture, arbitrary detention, and forced relocation of entire communities, especially ethnic minorities, to maintain control. In Iran, the government blatantly disregarded freedom of speech and assembly by cracking down on dissidents, journalists, and reformers through arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances, excessive force, and unfair trials. Similarly, in Zimbabwe, the Mugabe administration continued to violate human rights extensively. Official corruption and impunity were prevalent in both Cuba and China. In Cuba, the government, led temporarily by Raul Castro due to Fidel Castro's illness, continued to violate the rights of its citizens, including the right to peacefully change their government or criticize the revolution and its leaders. In China, the human rights record worsened in 2006 with an increase in cases of monitoring, harassment, detention, and imprisonment of political and religious activists, journalists, writers, and defense lawyers trying to exercise their legal rights.