Desiree Llaguno, a Cuban attorney and member of the Society of International Law of the National Union of Jurists of Cuba, claims that Cuba has one of the best human rights records in the world. This assertion was published in Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, on May 14, the day before Cuba’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the U.N. Human Rights council in Geneva, Switzerland.[1]
The foundation for this claim is Cuba’s ratification of 44 of the 61 international human rights instruments. In so doing, Cuba adopts and incorporates those obligations to “the national reality.” In at least one instance (the Convention on the Rights of the Child), Cuba exceeds the obligations of the treaty.
Another pillar of this claim was the assertion that in its last UPR in 2013, of the 292 recommendations for improving its human rights record, Cuba accepted 230, took note of another 40 while rejecting only 20 which it claims contained “interventionist positions.”
In contrast, Cuba says, the U.S. has ratified only 18 of these 61 international treaties.[2]
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[1] Cuba, among the countries most committed to human rights, Granma (May 14, 2018) Other details about the upcoming UPR of Cuba are set forth in (a) What do you know about the presentation of Cuba in the Universal Periodic Review on Human rights (+PDF), Cubadebate (May 15, 2018); and these posts to dwkcommentaries: Cuba’s Human Rights Record Being Subjected to Universal Periodic Review by U.N. Human Rights Council (April 30, 2018); Advance Questions for Cuba’s Universal Periodic Review by the U.N. Human Rights Council (May 11, 2018).
[2] The U.S. record of acceptance of multilateral human rights treaties is discussed in these posts to dwkcommentaries.com: Multilateral Treaties Ratified by the U.S. [Nineteen] (Feb. 9, 2013); Multilateral Treaties signed, But Not Ratified, by the U.S. [Nine] (Feb. 12, 2013); Multilateral Treaties Not Signed and Ratified by the U.S. [Seven] (Feb. 16, 2013).
