38th FIDH Congress
23-27 mai 2013
Istanbul (Turkey)
PROPOSED BY THE CUBAN COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND NATIONAL RECONCILIATION
« On civil and political rights in Cuba »
1. Although the situation of economic, social and cultural rights in Cuba has been less bad under the present government, which has been in power for 54 years, there has been no improvement in civil and political rights. The situation obtaining in Cuba could even be considered as the worst situation in all of Latin America since the civil and political rights have been reduced.
2. The 38th Congress takes note of the recent amendments to the law and administrative practices, which have encouraged, inter alia, greater job opportunities for independent workers. The measures have also made it possible for dozens of human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists to leave and return to the country, e.g. The representative of the CCDHRN (the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation), who had not been authorised to leave the country for eleven years.
3. We encourage the Cuban Government to ratify, without delay, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the U.N. Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, signed five years ago, to take the necessary steps to guarantee their implementation on the Island and to reinstate the abolition of the death penalty, in keeping with the spirit of the 1940 Constitution.
4. We also encourage the Cuban Government to agree to cooperate with the ICRC and other NGOS that work on human rights and wish to send missions with pre-established goals, and with the United Nations Special and Thematic Rapporteurs.
5. We encourage all parties in contact with the Cuban Government, especially the European Union, to prioritise the very fundamental question of human rights in their bilateral discussions with the government.
