Amid the global coronavirus pandemic, countries have introduced states of emergency to combat the spread of the COVID-19 disease. Human rights activists say the moves by governments are some of the tightest restrictions on civil liberties since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Earlier this year, the nonpartisan Freedom House chronicled the 14th consecutive year of declining political and civil rights around the world. Dictators are being joined by freely elected leaders in pursuing populist agendas and ignoring the rights of minorities and critics, the report notes.

"In fact, such leaders — including the chief executives of the United States and India, the world’s two largest democracies — are increasingly willing to break down institutional safeguards and disregard the rights of critics and minorities as they pursue their populist agendas," writes Freedom House's Sara Repucci.

The Netherlands cares the most about human rights, according to the 2020 Best Countries rankings, in which more than 20,000 people from four regions evaluated 73 countries across a number of specific attributes. In the survey, respondents answered how closely they related each of the countries to the phrase "cares about human rights." Respondents were provided no further detail about the phrase, so it was left to their interpretation.

Caring about human rights is one of eight attributes that were weighted equally to develop the Best Countries' Citizenship subranking. The other attributes include caring about the environment, providing gender equality, being seen as progressive, being seen as offering religious freedom, respecting property rights, being trustworthy and having well-distributed political power.

The United States failed to make the top 10, finishing at No. 18.

The United Arab Emirates finished last among the 73 countries assessed for being seen to care about human rights. The U.N. has raised concerns about the torture of prisoners and discrimination against women in the Middle Eastern nation. And despite recent reforms, the UAE continues to receive criticism from rights organizations, which accuse officials in the country for arbitrarily detaining critics of the government and for the poor treatment of the country's migrant and domestic workers.

Also finishing at the bottom and behind the UAE are Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India.

Here are the top 10 countries seen to care the most about human rights.

