Once again, an attempt was made to manipulate the issue of human rights to discredit Cuba, following the same dishonest, 60-year-old prefabricated script. The double standards, political manipulation and selectivity in addressing the issue were deployed unsuccessfully, in an effort to overshadow our achievements before the world.
The stage on this occasion was the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, where an individual attempted to present a long list of lies attacking our country, in a brazen anti-Cuban show, to be amplified in the slanderous media campaign against the island.
But Cuba’s unwavering commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights for all, alert to the interdependent and indivisible nature of such rights, is recognized within the international community, and undercuts all fallacies, no matter where they come from.
Article 41 of our country’s Constitution states: “The Cuban state recognizes and guarantees to individuals the enjoyment and exercise of inalienable, undeniable, indivisible, universal and interdependent human rights, in accordance with the principles of consistent progress, equality and non-discrimination,” which is still an illusion for many peoples on the planet.
Our nation continues to move forward in building an increasingly just, prosperous and sustainable society, and to support those in need in other parts of the world. More than 400,000 health care workers have completed missions in 164 countries, over 56 years. The most notable of these involved Cuban participation in the fight against cholera in Haiti, Ebola in Africa and the COVID-19 battle being waged today by several brigades of the Henry Reeve Contingent in 31 nations.
More than ten million people in dozens of countries have learned to read and write using the Cuban “Yo sí puedo” method, more than one million have reached a Sixth Grade level via the “Yo sí puedo seguir” program, and more than 35,000 professionals from 136 nations have been trained in our universities in careers associated with public health alone.
Our achievements in education, health and social security have been recognized many times worldwide. Cuba has ratified 44 of the 61 international instruments in the field of human rights – representing 72.13% of the total – and is among the UN member states with the highest number of ratifications of such instruments, according to the National Report of the Republic of Cuba to the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council in 2018.
Our activism on this issue within the United Nations is historic and widely recognized. Recently, the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council adopted three resolutions at Cuba’s proposal, concerning the impact of Foreign Debt on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, the Right to Food, and Cultural Rights.
Cuba maintains a policy of zero tolerance for any form of trafficking in persons, implementing a national action plan to address the issue.
In a UN forum on the subject, any dignified Cuban would strongly denounce the intensification of the U.S. blockade of our homeland, as an act of international genocide and a flagrant, massive and systematic violation of the human rights of our people. And condemn the ruthless campaign of the U.S. government against the medical collaboration Cuba offers to other nations, a hurtful crusade that affects the right to health of millions of human beings.
He or she would raise their voice for the end of unilateral coercive measures by Washington against Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Syria and other states; for the cessation of armed conflicts worldwide, violations of international law and the United Nations Charter, all serious threats to the right to life and peace.
In the face of such lies and manipulation, Cuba will continue to advocate for multilateralism, solidarity and cooperation, in defense of a better world.
(Source: Granma)