Havana's Obstruction of Freedom
By José Miguel Vivanco (*)
International Herald Tribune
30 April 2003

NEW YORK -- Few doubt that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is faltering in its mission. With Libya as its chair, and China, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe among its voting members, it is hardly surprising that many of the world's most flagrant human rights abusers – even those lacking seats on the commission – tend to escape its condemnation.

The situation is getting worse. Cuba's membership on the commission was set to expire but renewed for another term on Tuesday when the UN body, meeting in New York, voted on the issue. This was a stark testament to the commission's weakened credibility and degraded membership standards.

Cuba did not release any political prisoners, or grant any breathing room to the country's beleaguered human rights activists, or make even the most token gesture in support of human rights. The government of Fidel Castro evidently felt no need to moderate its repressive policies to ensure itself a seat on the commission.

To the contrary, Cuba flaunted its disregard of the commission's stated ideals. On March 18, the day after the commission opened its annual session in Geneva, state security agents began rounding up political dissidents, independent journalists, human rights advocates, independent librarians and others brave enough to challenge the Havana government's monopoly on truth. The arrests heralded Cuba's worst crackdown in decades.

In all, nearly 80 people were detained, including such prominent figures as Raúl Rivero, the poet and journalist, and Héctor Palacios, one of the leaders of Cuba's pro-democracy movement. The Cuban security forces also searched homes across the island, confiscating dissidents' fax machines, computers, typewriters and personal papers.

From April 3 to April 7, in a series of summary trials, the detainees were prosecuted under draconian legal provisions that ban actions meant to undermine the socialist system or support the U.S. economic embargo. Such laws criminalize a broad range of nonviolent statements of opinion, infringing fundamental rights of free expression.

A total of 75 detainees were convicted, receiving sentences of up to 28 years of imprisonment. The cumulative total of the sentences was a mind-boggling 1,454 years. There was not a single acquittal.

Meanwhile, back in Geneva, Cuba's representatives at the United Nations were busy reviewing human rights conditions around the world. They were also planning Cuba's re-election to the commission, a goal they just attained. Because Latin American countries proposed a slate of candidates, including Cuba, that was the same size as the number of commission seats allotted the region, Cuba's election was set.

Following such a severe crackdown, the country's re-election to the most high-profile UN human rights body represents a bitter defeat for the human rights ideal. Not only do Cuba's representatives manipulate the commission's work, the country's continued presence on the commission is an embarrassment.

This ugly outcome should prompt governments to take remedial action. Most importantly, in the long term, the governments that elect commission members should establish minimum standards for membership. Rather than electing human rights pariahs, governments should adopt rules that exclude at least the worst offenders from the commission.

Countries whose records the commission has condemned, which have failed to implement commission recommendations, which have refused to allow visits by commission investigators – or which, like Cuba, have done all of the above - should never again be considered proper candidates.

* The writer is executive director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch.