Editing Freedom House (section)

===Cuban, Sudanese, and Chinese criticism===
In May 2001, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations of the [[United Nations]] heard arguments for and against Freedom House. Representatives of [[Cuba]] said that the organization is a U.S. [[foreign policy]] instrument linked to the CIA and "submitted proof of the politically motivated, interventionist activities the NGO (Freedom House) carried out against their Government". They also claimed a lack of criticism of U.S. human rights violations in the annual reports. Cuba also stated that these violations are well documented by other reports, such as those of [[Human Rights Watch]]. Other countries such as [[People's Republic of China|China]] and [[Sudan]] also gave criticism. The [[Russia]]n representative inquired "why this organization, an NGO which defended human rights, was against the creation of the [[International Criminal Court]]?"<ref name="UNNGOS"/>

The U.S. representative stated that alleged links between Freedom House and the CIA were "simply not true". The representative said he agreed that the NGO receives funds from the United States Government, but said this is disclosed in its reports. The representative said the funds were from the [[United States Agency for International Development]] (USAID), which was not a branch of the CIA. The representative said his country had a law prohibiting the government from engaging in the activities of organizations seeking to change public policy, such as Freedom House. The representative said his country was not immune from criticism from Freedom House, which he said was well documented. The U.S. representative further argued that Freedom House was a human rights organization which sought to represent those who did not have a voice. The representative said he would continue to support NGOs who criticized his government and those of others.<ref name="UNNGOS">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/ngo432.doc.htm |title=UN: NGO Committee hears arguments for, against Freedom House|access-date=7 December 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140618233605/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/ngo432.doc.htm |archive-date=18 June 2014}}</ref>

In December 2019, Freedom House, together with four other U.S.-based democracy and human rights organizations, was [[Chinese sanctions|sanctioned]] by the Chinese government. In August 2020, then Freedom House president Michael Abramowitz, together with the heads of the same four groups and six U.S. Republican lawmakers, were also sanctioned, with the Chinese foreign ministry saying these individuals had "blatantly intervened in Hong Kong affairs, grossly interfered in China's internal affairs, and seriously violated international law and the basic norms of international relations". The leaders of the five organizations saw the sanctioning, whose details were unspecified, as a tit-for-tat measure in response to the earlier sanctioning by the U.S. of 11 Hong Kong officials. The latter step had in turn been a reaction to the enactment of the [[2020 Hong Kong national security law|Hong Kong National Security Law]] at the end of June.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-democracy-and-human-rights-leaders-sanctioned-by-china-vow-not-to-be-cowed-into-silence/2020/08/10/0878f65a-db48-11ea-b4af-72895e22941d_story.html|title=U.S. democracy and human rights leaders sanctioned by China vow not to be cowed into silence|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|first=Carol|last=Morello|date=11 August 2020|access-date=11 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811084722/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-democracy-and-human-rights-leaders-sanctioned-by-china-vow-not-to-be-cowed-into-silence/2020/08/10/0878f65a-db48-11ea-b4af-72895e22941d_story.html|archive-date=August 11, 2020|url-status=live|url-access=registration}}</ref>