HUMAN RIGHTS-CUBA: Gov’t Redoubles Efforts to Avoid UN Condemnation

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Mar 9 2001 (IPS) - The Cuban government has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to thwart approval of a new censure motion in the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Havana will take its own resolutions on the issue to the commission’s annual session, slated for April in Geneva, said Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque on his return from a tour of Japan, China and several other countries in Asia.

Last year, Japan was one of the nations that voted in favour of the condemnation of Cuba’s human rights record sponsored by the Czech Republic and Poland.

In 1998, a similar censure motion was voted down in the commission for the first time since 1990, although a similar initiative submitted by the Czech Republic and Hungary was approved by a narrow margin in 1999.

Pérez Roque reportedly told the Japanese government that ties between the two countries would not be affected even if Tokyo were to vote once again against Cuba this year. However, Cuba typically reacts with annoyance when it is criticised in international forums like the UN human rights commission.

According to press reports, Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono told Pérez Roque that he hoped to see “visible advances” in terms of respect for human rights in Cuba, which would result in increased interest in Havana on the part of Tokyo.

Pérez Roque responded that the human rights issue had been “politicised” and had become “a pretext used by the most developed countries, with the United States in the lead, to meddle in the internal affairs of other nations and impose embargos.”

The minister announced that Havana would wage “a political and ethical battle” in Geneva, not only in defence of the truth about Cuba, but to clarify the government’s conceptions and viewpoints on human rights, which he said had been “distorted” in the commission.

The Cuban government is accused of limiting civil liberties, banning political opposition, imprisoning dissidents, maintaining state control over the press and failing to hold presidential elections.

For their part, Cuban authorities point out that the socialist regime that has governed the country for over 40 years respects the right to life, health, education, employment and social security.

With respect to civil rights such as freedom of the press, freedom of association and freedom of assembly, Havana warned that such liberties could not be guaranteed as long as the United States continued to organise and finance the internal opposition.

The Buenos Aires daily ‘Clarín’ reported Thursday that the proposal to be submitted this year by the Czech Republic and Poland censured the human rights situation in Cuba, while questioning the economic embargo imposed by the United States in 1961.

The government of Fidel Castro has been especially sensitive in recent months towards external criticism of its human rights record. In a few cases, ties with other nations have been strained.

In February, Castro’s remark that Argentina would be “licking the boots of the Yanquis” if it voted in favour of the Washington- sponsored resolution led to serious diplomatic tension between the two countries.

Last year, Argentina voted in favour of the condemnation of Cuba in the Human Rights Commission, along with Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Voting against the resolution were Bhutan, Burundi, China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russia, Sudan, Tunisia, Venezuela and Zambia.

Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, the Philippines, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Qatar, Rwanda, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Swaziland abstained.

Czech authorities confirmed that their country and Poland were drafting a new censure motion against Cuba to be presented in the Human Rights Commission this year.