Tunisia and Burma, along with Colombia and Zambia, were upheld as models for human rights achievements made in 2011, a new State Department report said, while a number of other countries were criticized for lacking or worsening conditions for citizens.
Abuses against LGBT communities worldwide were also highlighted.
"Our reports are founded on the simple truth at the heart of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - that all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights," the report's preface, written by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated.
"Respect for human rights is not a western construct or a uniquely American ideal; it is the foundation for peace and stability everywhere. Universal human rights include the right of citizens to assemble peacefully and to seek to reform or change their governments, a central theme around the world in 2011."
In her preface, the secretary specifically mentioned Burma and Syria as examples of the best and worst human rights shifts last year. The report also calls attention to Colombia, Zambia and Tunisia as examples where positive changes in human rights have been made.
Meanwhile, a much larger number of human rights offenders - including Iran, North Korea, Uzbekistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Belarus and China - were cited as countries where the human rights situation on the ground worsened or didn't improve, with a specific emphasis on "marginalized people."
"This year's reports highlight the treatment of marginalized people, including LGBT people and people with disabilities," the report's introduction by Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner states. "Too many countries still criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, and LGBT people face discrimination and violence in many more countries."
In Iran, one of the countries receiving a low grade on marginalized people human rights, violence against women, ethnic and religious minorities and homosexuals was "extant," the report states. Civil liberties are severely hampered and arbitrary arrest, torture and execution rampant.
What's more, the tide of reform that ousted Libya's Qaddafi, Tunisia's Ben Ali and Egypt's Mubarak didn't extend here, with "the government's suppression and intimidation of voices of opposition continued at a rapid pace at year's end."
In China, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and key player in most international issues, including that of Iran's nascent nuclear program, "deterioration in key aspects of the country's human rights situation continued," the report stated.
Rather than being spurned by the Arab Spring and increased ties with the West to improve their human rights situation, "abuses peaked around high-profile events, such as the visit of foreign officials, sensitive anniversaries, and in response to Internet-based calls for 'Jasmine Revolution' protests."
Specifically, the report calls attention to abuse of marginalized people like ethnic minorities, such as Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims, and to an increase in the prevalance of "soft detention" where unofficial house arrest stifled the movement of prominent activists for years at a time. The dramatic escape and subsequent offer to travel to the U.S. for blind lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng was the most well-publicized case of this kind.
Indirectly referring to this trend in China and to violence in the Middle East and North Africa, Posner's introduction added, "in 2011 we saw too many governments crack down in the name of restoring order when their citizens demanded universal human rights and a voice in how they were governed. These acts of repression triggered more confrontation, more chaos, and ultimately greater instability."
"The events of the year showed that the real choice is not between stability and security; it is between reform and unrest," he added. States which did make marked improvements in their human rights record, such as Burma, chose reform.
Although significant human rights issues remain in Burma, the emergence of a democratic process represented a positive change in the country. However, government involvement in civilian deaths, forced relocations and sexual violence remain and need to be addressed, the report said.
From Colombia, where the climate of impunity has been addresses, to Zambia, where local and presidential elections were held, and Tunisia, where a new constitution is coming to fruition, global improvements in human rights were apparent last year. Oftentimes, these improvements were thanks to new connective technologies that allowed people to speak out against abuses.
It is this link, between connective technologies, human rights and global calls for reform, that is now a key feature of almost every struggle from village to metropolis and will characterize how governments and individuals react to abuses around them.
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