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CUBA SIGNS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AGREEMENTS
Related to country: Cuba

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Sovereign decision of a government that is not acting under pressure
• Emphasizes Foreign Minister Pérez Roque, adding that the U.S. blockade and hostility constitute the main obstacle to the Cuban people’s enjoyment of the rights covered by those agreements




UNITED NATIONS. — Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said that Cuba’s signing of human rights agreements was a sovereign decision by a government that has never acted and will never act under pressure.

In a press conference shortly after signing the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Pérez Roque referred to the reason that such a step was being made.

He explained that the decision "has been taken now that the selective and unjust mandate against Cuba imposed by the brutal pressure and blackmail of the United States in the former Human Rights Commission has been clearly defeated, representing a historic victory for the Cuban people."

In his encounter with the accredited press in the United Nations, the foreign minister said that the island made the following statement, valid for both:

"The Republic of Cuba declares that it was the Revolution that made it possible for its people to enjoy the rights formulated in the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

"The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America and its policy of hostility and aggression against Cuba constitute the most serious obstacle to the Cuban people’s enjoyment of the rights formulated in the covenants."

The statement also says that the Cuban Constitution and its legislation establish the rights protected by those pacts and that the politics and programs of the Cuban state guarantee the effective realization and protection of those rights for all Cubans.

He emphasized that with respect to the scope and application of some postulates of those international instruments, Cuba will register any reservations or interpretative statements that it considers pertinent.

In response to a question about the possibility of relations with the United States in response to a change of government in that country in 2009, Pérez Roque said that Cuba is willing, but clarified that it would never negotiate its sovereignty and that the blockade must be lifted.

In that respect he insisted that Cuba has generalized international support, reiterated by the UN General Assembly last November, when 184 of its members voted for a resolution against the U.S. blockade, imposed almost 50 years ago.

Foreign Minister Pérez Roque announced the Cuban government’s decision to sign both pacts this past December 10.

The island abstained from taking that step while the mandate of a special rapporteur imposed on Cuba under the pressure of the United States remained in the former Human Rights Commission, without the existence of any violations to justify it.

In that respect, Pérez Roque said that this decision had been made now that the selective and unjust mandate against Cuba had been clearly defeated.

The Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, is formed by the representatives of 47 countries, including Cuba, which was elected to that body by more than two-thirds of the 192 members of the General Assembly.

On the day of the signing, February 28, Pérez Roque met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and also with the Coordination Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement, of which Cuba currently holds the presidency.


Translated by Granma International

February 29, 2008 | 5:44 PM Comments  0 comments

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