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HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONDEMNS CUBA


The resolution was approved by 22 countries, with 10 abstentions and 21 voting against it. The narrow margin of one vote was similar to last year’s count when Cuba was also condemned.

A block of Latin-American countries, geographically close to Cuba, endorsed the resolution’s accusatory language against Fidel Castro’s Marxist government.

The Honduran motion was one of the most politically controversial topics that the Commission addressed during its six-week annual session. The resolution was endorsed by 22 countries:

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Commission approved Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland, Honduras’ resolution denouncing Cuba’s communist government for its human rights violations to the Cuban people, demanding the visit of a UN investigator to the Island.

The resolution was approved by 22 countries, with 10 abstentions and 21 voting against it. The narrow margin of one vote was similar to last year’s count when Cuba was also condemned.

A block of Latin-American countries, geographically close to Cuba, endorsed the resolution’s accusatory language against Fidel Castro’s Marxist government.

The Honduran motion was one of the most politically controversial topics that the Commission addressed during its six-week annual session. The resolution was endorsed by 22 countries:

The United States, Japan, Croatia, South Korea, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Honduras, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, the Checz Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland and Italy.

There were 21 countries voting against the resolution: Cuba, Russia, China, South Africa, Bahrain, Burkina-Faso, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Ukraine, Zimbabwe.

The 10 countries abstaining were: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bhutan, Eritrea, Gabon, Mauritania, Nepal, Sri-Lanka and Uganda.

The Honduran Ambassador, Benjamin Zapata, stated that the resolution was not an attack against Cuba.

"It is a constructive request asking the Cuban government to consider (the implementation of) freedom of speech, democracy and pluralism", said Zapata. "It is a call to the granting of all rights, civil and political, to the Cuban people, with full participation and freedom of opinion without fear of repression".

The resolution emphasizes that the Cuban government should refrain from enforcing measures that may endanger the fundamental rights of its citizens, such as the freedom of speech and the right to a just, due process, freedom of religion and it demands that the Cuban government implements measures which facilitate a dialogue with all of the political groups and various ideologies comprising its society to promote the development of its democratic institutions and public liberties.

The resolution also deplores the harsh jail sentences imposed last year to a group of 75 dissidents, although it does not demand, at this time, their immediate release from jail.

Likewise, the resolution calls for Fidel Castro`s government to allow for the visit to Cuba of the special representative of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights in order to inspect the status of human rights in Cuba.

The Cuban government has so far denied entry to the Island to Christine Chanet, the UN Human Rights Special Envoy, appointed last year, thus blocking her mandate to inspect the reported violations and abuses committed by Cuban officials against the Cuban people.

In her first report, issued last February, Chanet stated that a large number of dissidents are imprisoned in deplorable conditions either in isolation or in jails full of "common criminals".

The Geneva proceedings and voting on the resolution against Cuba was preceded by intense activity by both Washington and Havana as well as by copious debates involving a number of Latin American countries.

The Cuban delegate directly accused the United States of endeavoring in support of the resolution and of utilizing Honduras in its effort to condemn the Government of Fidel Castro.

Honduras has denied such allegations. Honduras President Ricardo Maduro has stated publicly that he drafted the resolution himself.

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