This year Cuba’s human rights record is a subject of its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. After reviewing the nature of the UPR process, we will look at the status of Cuba’s pending UPR.[1]
Background
The U.N. Human Rights Council since 2006 has been an important arm of the United Nations in recognizing and helping to enforce international human rights norms in the world.
One of the ways it does so is its UPR of individual U.N. member states. The UPR is universal in that all 193 U.N. members and all human rights norms are reviewed and it is periodic because it done every four years. Such Review is to be “based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfillment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all States.” This is to be done with “a cooperative mechanism, based on an interactive dialogue, with the full involvement of the country concerned.”
The UPR process involves (a) the state’s submission of a report to the Council; (b) submission of written questions and recommendations to the state from other states and stakeholders (human rights NGO’s, etc.); (c) the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights’ summary of U.N. information about the country; (d) a pre-hearing session with the country’s civil society representatives; (e) Questions submitted to the country in advance by the Working Group; (f) the hearing by the Council, (g) the preparation of a draft report on the state by a Council working group, (h) the state’s comments on that report, (i) another hearing before the Council and (j) the Council’s adoption of the final report on the outcome of the UPR.
Cuba’s Third UPR[2]
Prior to the May 16, 2018, hearing on Cuba’s UPR, the following materials have been translated from their original language into five other languages and made available on the Council’s website: (a) Cuba’s National Report to the Council (March 5, 2018); (b) the Council’s Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review’s Summary of Stakeholders’ submissions on Cuba (March 9, 2018); and (c) the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Compilation of U.N. Information on Cuba (March 16, 2018).
After discussing its {I) Methodology and consultative process, Cuba’s report provided information about its (II) Legal and institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights; (III) Achievements and challenges in the promotion and protection of human rights in Cuba since the previous review[in 2013]; and (IV)Cuba’s cooperation with the United Nations human rights machinery. The National Report asserted the following conclusions:
- “153. Despite the conditions of underdevelopment inherited from a colonial and neocolonial past, the United States embargo against its people, the unfair and unequal international economic order in which it has been forced to participate and the destructive impact of hurricanes and other natural phenomena, the Cuban people have managed to make substantial progress, and they have continued to intensify their revolutionary transformation with the goal of building a society that is increasingly just, free, democratic, caring, participatory and prosperous.”
- “154. The laws, institutions and functions of the Cuban State are based on the exercise of power by the great majority of workers, intellectuals, professionals and artists. There is a broad and active civil society. Cubans participate effectively and systematically in decision-making processes, not only in the political and electoral context, but also in the economic, social and cultural spheres.”
- “ 155. The policy of hostility and blockade of successive United States Governments against Cuba has been a serious obstacle to the full enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Cubans, including their right to life, peace, self-determination and development.”
- “156. Cuba cooperates with the non-discriminatory and universally applicable procedures and mechanisms of the United Nations machinery in the field of human rights. It confirms its willingness to continue moving ahead with international cooperation and a genuine dialogue on human rights.”
- “ 157. The Cuban people will continue to vindicate and defend the Revolution that has made possible the enjoyment by everyone in the country of their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Cuba will work to make it ever more efficient, productive and sustainable. It will continue to ensure with dignity, modesty and pride the right of its people to self-determination, development and peace, and it will work for the establishment of a just, democratic and equitable international order.”
This densely packed document summarizes many individual submissions and 21 joint submissions by NGO’s.
One of the submissions came from Civil Rights Defenders, a Cuban NGO.[3] It called for the UPR to recommend that (1) Cuba reform its constitution “to include measures that guarantee all the fundamental rights, eliminating the ideological aspects, as well as the mentions of the Communist Party;” (2) Cuba ratify and implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; (3) the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders investigate the situation of human rights defenders in Cuba, and carry out the pertinent monitoring and analysis in their future reports; (4) the U.N. appoint a special rapporteur to monitor non-discrimination for all citizens, especially historically vulnerable groups; (5) Cuba eliminate the death penalty; (6) Cuba make torture a crime; (7) Cuba eliminate precautionary pre-criminal measures frequently used against independent journalists, activista and opponents; (8) the U.N. report on arbitrary detentions in Cuba; (9) the Cuban constitution be amended to guarantee the habeas corpus procedure; (10) Cuba guarantee free movement of all Cuban citizens; (11) Cuba guarantee freedom of worship and conscience, expression, association and peaceful assembly; (12) Cuba establish an electoral law guaranteeing free participation of all citizens in the political system.
A submission that was supportive of the Cuban government and system came from Isaac Saney, Co-Chair and National Spokesperson of the Canadian Network On Cuba.
However, just this last weekend the government arrested and detained 24 members of the Ladies in White as they tried to participate in the #TodosMarchamos campaign for the release of political prisoners, or to attend mass.” Other activists with the Youth Front of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) were arrested and detained.[4]
This report in 67 paragraphs summarized comments about Cuba from various U.N. agencies, including recommendations that Cuba ratify certain human rights treaties; make enforced disappearances an autonomous offense; adopt measures to ensure that all arrestees have prompt hearings to limit pretrial detention; adopt an independent means for regular visits to places of detention; guarantee full independence of the judiciary and other branches of government; ensure that women had easy and secure access to justice, including free legal aid and victim protection programs; and prioritize adoption of the draft Family Code.
Of special concern were “allegations of harassment, intimidation and reprisals and, in certain cases, ill-treatment, arrests and violations of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and peaceful association.” (Para. 28)
A related concern were “reports of intimidation and arrests of journalists working for non-State-run digital media” and Cuba’s not having “ a freedom of information law, defamation remained criminalized and those who produced or circulated publications without indicating the origin or in non-compliance with the rules relating to publication could face imprisonment for up to one year and/or a fine. The authorities of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, the regulatory body for radio and television broadcasting, were appointed by the Government. UNESCO encouraged Cuba to foster a more pluralistic and independent media environment in accordance with international standards, to set up an independent broadcast regulator to award and administer broadcast licences, to introduce a freedom of information law in accordance with international standards, and to decriminalize defamation and subsequently incorporate it into the Civil Code, in accordance with international standards.” (Para. 29)
Presumably one of the topics that will come up at the UPR hearing in May is the recent criticism of Cuba by the Council’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, for Cuba’s “disqualification, reprisals and harassment of human rights defenders.,” especially the Ladies in White. He lamented Cuba’s refusal to recognize the value of the work of human rights defenders and reminded the Cuban government that “dissent and expressing dissent peacefully . . . are basic and necessary rights in a democratic State.”[5]
This criticism did not sit well with Cuba for on March 1, one of Cuba’s diplomats in Geneva called on Forst “ to ensure that in the performance of his duties a special priority be given to objectivity, a vital element for the credibility of his mandate.”
Pre=session Hearing[6]
Starting in 2012, the Council added pre-sessions to the UPR process because of difficulties in arranging for presentations by civil societies of the countries under review. Such a pre-session was held for Cuba on April 13, 2018.
At this pre-session, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), which is based in Madrid, Spain, said the Cuban government had demonstrated little commitment to human rights by its failure to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; by its failure to modify certain laws that allow the Government to discriminate for ideological or partisan reasons and by its ignoring most of the recommendations made in the prior UPR.
OCDH also recommended that Cuba establish the independence of the judiciary and create a constitutional guarantees chamber in the Supreme Court.
Other groups in attendance were the Ladies in White, the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, the Women’s Platform, the Hands Network (LGBTI, and the Group of 75.
However, the Cuban government prevented some representatives of Cuban civil society from leaving the island in order to attend this pre-session in Switzerland. They were Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna of the Citizens Committee for Racial Integration (CIR) and Dora Mesa of the Association for the Development and Early Childhood Education (ACDEI).
This blockage by the Cuban government was criticized by 12 permanent missions, including Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, United Kingdom, Finland, Ireland, Slovenia and Croatia, The German representative warned that their absence hindered the main mission of the Council and raised many questions about the cooperation of the Cuban Government with the UPR, as a mechanism that seeks to contribute to the resolution of internal issues of countries in the area of human rights. the delegate of Sweden said that the “empty chairs” were a sign of the plight of political activists around the world who put their lives at risk to make visible human rights violations on international stages and warned that his country “has its eyes on the situation of repression that human rights defenders live in Cuba and the actions of the Government.”
Conclusion
A future post will examine the Working Group’s Questions for Cuba in Advance of the Hearing, the Hearing and the final report.
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[1] The Council records indicate that Cuba’s first and second UPRs were conducted in 2009 and 2013. The U.S. has had UPRs in 2011-2012 and 2015, and its third is scheduled for October 2020. A previous post examined the first UPR of the United States In 2011-12.
[2] Office U.N, High Commissioner for Human Rights, UPR–Cuba
[3] Civil Rights Defenders asked the UN to promote a constitutional reform in Cuba, Diario de Cuba (Oct. 6, 2017)
[4] At hours of May Day, raids and arrests of activists of the UNPACU and the Ladies in White, Diario de Cuba (April 30, 2018).
[5] González, A special UN rapporteur reminds Havana that ‘dissent is a basic right,’ Diario de Cuba (Mar. 2, 2018).
[6] Opponents denounce in Geneva the ‘confiscation’ of salaries to Cuban workers, Diario de Cuba (April 13, 2018); The empty chairs of Cuban activists in Geneva generate criticism from 12 states, Diario de Cuba (April 16, 2018).