Havana, Nov 21 (Prensa Latina) The UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur, Alena Douhan, stated here today that the United States’ unilateral measures against Cuba lack legitimacy and affect the human rights of the population.
Photos: Vladimir Molina Espada
In presenting the preliminary findings of her investigations on the island to the national and foreign press, the official noted that such coercive actions affect all spheres of national life and directly harm its inhabitants, especially the most vulnerable groups.
He pointed out that these are especially damaging amid the problems the Caribbean nation is facing due to the international crisis, the onslaught of climate events, and internal economic difficulties.
He emphasized that the harmful effects of these are deepened by the politically motivated inclusion of the island in the State Department’s list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.
Douhan recalled that since 1962 Cuba has suffered the US embargo, and this year that power extended the country’s presence on the aforementioned list, which causes serious economic damage and significantly hinders the efforts of the Caribbean nation to guarantee basic services and develop social policies.
In his visits and exchanges held since November 11 with various sectors of the country’s economic, political and social life, organizations, institutions and projects, Douhan witnessed firsthand the real impact of the blockade on the human rights of Cubans.
Such measures limit the State’s capacity to develop public policies, threaten the rights to food and a dignified life, hinder academic exchanges, affect the supply of energy, drinking water, and medicines, and violate the right to life in general, he pointed out.
In this regard, the report on the subject that it will present in September 2026 to the UN Human Rights Council will urge the United States to cease this unilateral policy “without international legal basis”, including secondary sanctions and the over-compliance with them.
It will also call on states and international organizations to adopt measures to guarantee the full enjoyment of the rights of Cubans, and to allow the development of programs that benefit other countries.
In his speech, Douhan thanked the Cuban government for the facilities provided to exchange with leaders, representatives of civil society, specialists, academics, international organizations and personalities from various sectors of the country’s economic, political and social life.
mem / evm
