Cuba Goes Before UN Rights Body in May
| Publisher | Institute for War and Peace Reporting |
| Author | Yaremis Flores Marín |
| Publication Date | 11 March 2013 |
| Cite as | Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Cuba Goes Before UN Rights Body in May, 11 March 2013, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/513f0dc32.html [accessed 19 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
When Cuba's case comes before the United Nations Human Rights Council on May 1, the government will be asked to demonstrate real progress since its last appearance in 2009.
As part of a process called the Universal Periodic Review, the UN body will look at how much progress Cuba has made in implementing recommendations made at the last meeting – but only those that it accepted.
In total, the Cuban authorities accepted 60 out of 89 recommendations made by representatives of other countries on the Human Rights Council in 2009.
In a statement issued in February, international rights group Amnesty International recalled that the recommendations accepted by Cuba mostly concerned "economic and social rights policies that had already been implemented", but also covered a number of key issues like "the promotion and protection of human rights and freedoms, the death penalty, cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms, and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners".
The Cuban authorities acknowledge that progress on implementing the recommendations has been slow, explaining that this is due to the time it takes to adapt national legislation.
They have also sought to re-frame the debate by arguing that United States sanctions amount to a greater human rights abuse than any domestic concerns, and that in any case basic civil and welfare rights are upheld.
Amnesty International says the 2009 review was in any case "highly politicised", so that the review of Cuba's human rights record ended up being "weak".
"With few exceptions, most of the recommendations made by other states did not address the human rights situation in Cuba," it said..
Cuba dismissed out of hand the minority of recommendations that were hard-hitting, such as a Dutch call for guarantees that independent journalists, human rights activists and political dissidents could exercise basic freedoms without risk of harassment, intimidation or persecution.
The government response was that it rejected any recommendations "based on false or distorted statements… ignorance or lack of information about realities in the country".
The non-government Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation says there are at least 90 political prisoners in the country. In addition, the 6,600 politically motivated detentions which the commission recorded in 2012 reflect a rising trend – the figure was three times the number of detentions in 2010.
armed groups have been at war with the government for more than 60 years and hundreds of thousands remain internally displaced, community workers say residents have almost no knowledge of the census, but also worry about possible abuses."A census is not inherently bad, but, due to our past experiences working with the villagers, local military officers could use the population numbers to carry out abuses - such as arbitrary taxation and forced labour," said Saw Albert, field director of the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG).
"When the government has more information about villagers, it is easy for them to target them," he added.
Another concern is that the census can be used as a tool to manipulate the numbers of people who support the ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, in the scheduled 2015 parliamentary election.
"What we see of the villagers' situation in our research area [all of Karen State plus parts of Mon State, Bago Division and Tanintharyi Division in southern Myanmar] is that they never have a chance to vote for the government. Usually they are not allow[ed] to vote in their own name, but are automatically assigned a vote without their acknowledgement," said Saw Albert.
At the other end of the country, reaching indigenous populations in the country's northern Shan State bordering China, as well as other border communities, is a "major logistical challenge", added HRW's Mathieson, noting that few people in the mountainous, isolated regions even speak Burmese, the language in which the census will be conducted.
The estimated total cost of the census is US$58.5 million, of which the Burmese Government and UNFPA have committed $20 million.
The pilot census, ahead of the 2014 nationwide census, is scheduled in 20 of the country's 330 townships from 30 March to 10 April 2013 and involves face-to-face interviews and some 41 questions.
Preliminary findings from the nationwide count next year are expected in July 2014, with final results in early 2015.
