A Second Evaluation

A Second Evaluation / Dimas Castellanos
Posted on May 17, 2013

On May 1 the government of Cuba was the subject for the second time of
the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a tool of the Human Rights Council
(HRC) of the United Nations responsible for reviewing the obligations
and commitments made by the members States in this area.

When this function was exercised by the former Commission on Human
Rights, under the UN Economic and Social Council, the dispute between
the governments of Cuba and the United States led to a growing
politicization of the issue until if became a total bottleneck. Each
year the same script is repeated: lobbying before and during the
sessions, offensive debates, exchange of accusations, voting on a
resolution and finally the Cuban government's announcement of the defeat
of imperialism. From that time until the next session nothing changed in
Cuba, because when dealing with "false" and "gross" accusations of the
enemy, there was nothing to change.

For Cubans what happened in Geneva had no effect on their lives, because
conflicts between states tend to the underhanded and therefore to
demobilize conflicts within states, and much more so when the external
contradiction is brought to the fore. This situation was used by the
Cuban authorities to support ideological nationalism and to "prove" to
the world that in Cuba there were no human rights violations, it was all
lies told by enemies.

For example, in 2002, in the month of January, Cuba's Minister of
Foreign Affairs accused the U.S. government of working with the foreign
ministries of Latin American countries to present a resolution on
"alleged" human rights violations. Thus the controversy moved from
discussion of violations in Cuba to the conduct of the United States.
Three months later, in response to the Mexican vote in Geneva against
Cuba, the newspaper Juventud Rebelde launched a ruthless attack on
Mexican president Vicente Fox, published in Mexico by La Jornada, in
which it said that the President is "unable to defend the interests of
Mexicans and is an embarrassment to Latin America."

Since human rights precede and transcend politics, to put things in
their place politicizes of the issue and on that basis promotes a
peaceful and constructive debate, aimed at improving the real state of
human rights in the Greater Antilles. This was enough to answer
questions as simple as the following:

Can Cubans leave and enter the country without government permission?
Can they associate independently of the state? Can they choose the type
of education they want for their children? Can they participate as
subjects in their nation's economy? Can they disagree publicly with the
government or the Communist Party without risk? Can they freely connect
to the internet? Can they follow the ball in the major leagues on TV as
is done with football? The answer was a single and simple: No. An answer
sufficient to shed light on human rights within the country and turn the
focus of attention on the allegations against Argentina, Mexico, the
U.S. or any other state for "meddling" in the internal affairs and/or
the lack of moral standing to condemn the Cuban government. Questions
and responses that delimit the problem to discussing and drawing
attention to the political will and the responsibility of the Cuban
government to its people.

The Question Now

The UPR, unlike the former Human Rights Commission, is an
intergovernmental body of the United Nations, composed of 47 member
countries, which is led by a troika of rapporteurs and in the presence
of the observer states, regularly reviews the status of human rights in
UN member countries. The country examined presents a report to the group
which starts a dialogue from which recommendations emerge. According to
this procedure, Cuba received 88 recommendations in the first review in
2009. And on the basis of that opinion the Greater Antilles has just
been submitted again for evaluation.

The Cuban Foreign Minister of the day, in the report, repeated the
rhetoric against blockade imposed by the U.S., against the policy to
impose "regime change" and enumerated the significant changes in the
economy and society in the last two years. He asserted that "Cuba has
continued to strengthen the democratic character of its institutions and
freedoms of opinion, expression, information and news are recognized for
all citizens," without clarifying that these freedoms are
constitutionally limited to defending the postulates of the ruling
party, which explains that in Cuba the associations that can legally
exist are created and subordinated to this end.

During the evaluation the majority of countries participating in the UPR
praised the Island for its "progress" in relation to the Millennium
Development Goals, especially in regard to education and access to
health services and changes in immigration policy and the right of
Cubans to work for themselves in a set of limited activities. But at the
same time they urged the Government, among other things, to end the
short term detentions, harassment and other repressive measures against
activists and independent journalists, to reduce government control of
the internet, to allow representatives of the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit prisons without limitation, to ratify the
Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, which Cuba signed since 2008.

As a result of the evaluation, the HRC made 204 recommendations and
suggestions more than in 2009, that is a total of 292. The comments
correspond to the deplorable state of human rights in Cuba and
correspond to the allegations made by the Cuban opposition inside and
outside the country before and after the creation of the HRC,
demonstrating conclusively that the absence of civil liberties and
fundamental rights in Cuba have little to do with the dispute with or
the "baloney" of the enemy. There is no denying that there have been
some changes in human rights, but in a western country with a rich
history in freedoms, the current state is deplorable and unsustainable,
as these small measures implemented don't even reach the level of
respect for human rights that existed in Cuba since the second half of
the nineteenth century.

An important step would be to start by ratifying the covenants Cuba
signed five years ago, which, if made binding, could be a real sign of
change.

However, we must recognize that the response of the island's ambassador
to the UN, arguing that of these recommendations "a large group" will be
accepted and implemented "according to our possibilities and changing
circumstances," is at least some distance from those inflammatory
speeches any time a remark is made about the Island.

Translated from Diario de Cuba

14 May 2013

http://translatingcuba.com/a-second-evaluation-dimas-castellanos/