M.C.U.D.

 

CUBAN MOVEMENT FOR A UNIFIED DEMOCRACY

"Working together for a free Cuba"

 
M.C.U.D.
WHO WE ARE
OBJECTIVES
DOCUMENTS
CUBA IN PHOTOS
ARCHIVES
EVENTS
DONATIONS
LINKS

 

 
 

Top United Nations Human Rights Body votes 22-21 to condemn Cuba over its rights record urges Cuba to reform.

"After the finishing of the voting a melee started in which an unidentified member of the Cuban delegation physically assaulted Cuban exile and advocate of Human Rights, Frank Calzón, Executive Director for The Center for a Free Cuba, as reported by Silvia Iriondo, from MAR (Mothers Against Repression) from Geneva by Radio Mambi, 710-AM in Miami. The Cuban delegate punched Calzón twice in the face sending him briefly unconscious to the floor. He was handcuffed and led away by Swiss police".

The UN Human Rights Commission on Thursday censured Cuba's clampdown on dissidents and urged it to accept a human rights probe.

Twenty-two countries in the 53-member assembly voted in favor of a resolution brought by Honduras, Peru and Australia, and backed by the United States, calling for Cuban cooperation with a United Nations envoy, while 21 countries opposed the move.

As it happened last year, the resolution was approved by just one vote -- 22 to 21, with 10 abstentions -- with a number of Cuba's Latin American neighbors joining the criticism of the government of the island's Marxist ruler, Fidel Castro, among them México, Peru and Costa Rica. Argentina and Brazil abstained in the voting.

The mildly-worded resolution called on Cuba to "refrain from adopting measures which could jeopardize fundamental rights" and deplored the heavy prison terms imposed on political opponents and journalists arrested last year but stopped short of demanding their immediate release.

The Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights called on Cuba to guarantee freedom of expression and religion and to begin a dialogue with Cuban political groups and thinkers to develop democratic institutions and civil liberties and also urged the Communist country to accept a visit from a special U.N. investigator.

It also urged the Cuban government to cooperate with UN human rights envoy Christine Chanet, who has criticized abuse in the country in several reports, despite Havana's steadfast refusal to allow her into the country. The motion, had prompted a heated diplomatic battle in recent weeks as Washington and Havana tried to rally support from other countries.

The motion, one of the most politically charged of the commission's six-week annual session, was proposed by Honduras and also supported by the European Union.

Both Washington and Havana had lobbied hard before the vote at the 53-member commission and a furious Cuba accused Honduras of acting on the instructions of the U.S. government.

"We are outraged at the shameful role of the Honduran government," senior Cuban foreign ministry official Juan Antonio Fernández told the commission.

The Cuban government has so far refused to allow the special U.N. investigator, French magistrate Christine Chanet, who was appointed last year, to travel to the island.

Chanet said in her first report in February that dozens of dissidents were being held in alarming conditions, isolation cells or facilities crammed with "common criminals."

But Cuba accused the commission of "double standards" and said that instead of criticizing Havana it should be condemning Washington for running a "concentration" camp at the Guantánamo naval base on Cuban territory, where hundreds of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are being held.

After the finishing of the voting a melee started in which an unidentified member of the Cuban delegation physically assaulted Cuban exile and advocate of Human Rights, Frank Calzón, Executive Director for The Center for a Free Cuba, as reported by Silvia Iriondo, from MAR (Mothers Against Repression) from Geneva by Radio Mambi, 710-AM in Miami. The Cuban delegate punched Calzón twice in the face sending him briefly unconscious to the floor. He was handcuffed and led away by Swiss police.

Ambassador Kevin Edward Moley, Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, who was next to Calzón, furiously, said he was pressing charges before the Swiss authorities.

Mari Simón, permanently accredited in Geneva said Calzón tried to intervene in an ongoing discussion about affiches distributed by the Cuban delegation depicting him as a CIA agent when the Cuban delegation member punch him.

Cables from Reuters, Agence France Presse and other news agencies contributed to this report.

Source: La Nueva Cuba Services
Geneva
Switzerland

La Nueva Cuba
April 15, 2004