The Center for a Free Cuba (CFC) celebrated Russia’s expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council and called for the Cuban regime to be subjected to the same process.
“It is important to remember that the President of the Castro regime, Miguel Díaz-Canel, ordered forces loyal to him to take to the streets to use violence against the demonstrators. [el pasado 11 de julio] […]. For the reasons that led to Libya’s exclusion from the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, Cuba should also be suspended,” says a report published on Thursday by the organization, which attended the XIV Geneva Summit on Human Rights and Democracy this week.
In its report, the CFC recalls that the activist Rosa María Payá, in her speech at the Geneva summit on April 5, called for Cuba to be subjected to the same process that led to Russia’s suspension from that UN body.
The Geneva Summit on Human Rights and Democracy is an annual human rights forum sponsored by a coalition of 20 non-governmental organizations on the eve of the annual session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, where activists from around the world seek to raise international awareness on the issue of civil liberties and democratic rights Values.
The document was also highlighted the cases of the artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Osorbo Castillo and hamlet of Lavastida. The first two face prison sentences of up to 10 years, the third, whose testimony was also heard at the Geneva summit, was forced into exile.
“The options for dissidents in Cuba, which are not always their choice, are exile, prison or death,” the report noted.
The report also highlighted a speech by Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, who questioned the practice of electing authoritarian regimes at the UN Human Rights Council. UN Watch promoted the proposal to exclude Russia from the panel.
The CFC launched a public petition on the Change.org platform calling on the General Assembly to remove “the Castro regime in Cuba for its grave and systematic human rights violations” from the Human Rights Council.
The UN General Assembly last Thursday Russia was suspended by the Human Rights Council, in light of the “serious and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” committed by his army in Ukraine.
Cuban ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel and his foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla showed your rejection of the decision.
“We oppose the resolution suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council, a country essential to achieving the effective, fair and peaceful diplomatic solution that the current crisis in Europe urgently requires.” Diaz-Canel wrote on his Twitter account.
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