That United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council adopted this Friday the resolution on human rights and international solidarity presented by the Cuban government.
The vote took place during the 50th regular session of this international organization in Geneva, Switzerland. The document, examined by 47 foreign delegations, had 15 votes against31 votes in favor and one abstention.
“The UN has adopted a resolution on human rights and international solidarity presented by Cuba. “We do not recognize any country’s right to proclaim itself a policeman or guarantor of religious freedom in the world, or to issue unilateral certificates or lists,” he wrote. Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez on his official Twitter account.
His post provoked numerous negative reactions from several hundred netizens, who criticized the UN for the passive behavior it adopts in the face of the constant injustices perpetrated against opponents, activists, journalists and independent artists on the Caribbean island.
“That seems unbelievable one year after 11 y, which exposed the repressive nature of the Cuban dictatorship in plain sight and involved thousands of people in prison, the United Nations lends itself to such a farce. My only consolation is that at least 15 countries have said no to the screen that the government is putting up for the world,” said a user of the social network.
“63 years without free and multiparty elections in which political parties of different ideologies and beliefs can participate. #Cuba is neither free nor democratic. #EnCubaHayUnaDictadura”, “How can you be so hypocritical?” added other forum members.
The Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Marshall Islands, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, the United States, Britain and Ukraine voted against the Castro administration’s resolution. The Representation of Mexico abstained from participating.
Nevertheless, Bruno Rodriguez Fernandez, Foreign Minister, boasted in a tweet that: “International solidarity is a powerful tool to address the structural causes of poverty, inequality and other global problems. This is recognized in the resolution entitled “Human Rights and International Solidarity” tabled by Cuba and adopted today by #HRC50.”
According to the official newspaper, the Cuban government’s resolution before the Human Rights Committee called for alleged interference by third countries in the island’s internal affairs. “We do not recognize any country the right to declare itself a police officer or guarantor of religious freedom in the world, or to issue unilateral certifications or lists, the only result of which is to damage international cooperation and encourage disinformation,” the statement said text referred to above.
The vote in Geneva came during the Castro dictatorship increases the pressure on civil society actors, who are the most resistant to maintaining power. Numerous international organizations have called on the regime’s representatives to put an end to this abuse and to the freedom of political prisoners.
This Thursday Gerardo Berthin, Vice President for International Programs at Freedom House, compared the oppression in Cuba to that of the cruellest dictatorships in Latin America in the last decades of the 20th century.
The expert explained that the island was constantly occupied ranked last in the western hemisphere in terms of fundamental parameters such as political rights, civil liberties, freedom of expression and assembly, internet access and censorship, among others.
In April of this year, the Center for a Free Cuba was founded an international campaign to exclude the island from the UN Human Rights Council. Members of this organization sent a letter to President Joe Biden of the United States and Prime Ministers Magdalena Andersson of Sweden and Justin Trudeau of Canada, as well as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
The letter was signed by human rights activists, former diplomats, academics and international figures.