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UN must condemn
Cuba for beating of NGO representative
Freedom
House.
NEW YORK, APRIL 15, 2004 -- The beating
by Cuban officials of a member of a nongovernmental
organization at the United Nations in Geneva
should be considered a criminal act for
which the Cuban government must be censured,
Freedom House said today.
After the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights narrowly passed a resolution
today critical of Cuba, members of Cuba's
governmental delegation attacked Frank Calzon,
executive director of the Washington-based
Center for a Free Cuba.
The attack took place inside the United
Nations building in Geneva.
Witnesses said a Cuban delegate punched
Mr. Calzon, knocking him unconscious. UN
guards reportedly protected him from further
assault by additional members of the Cuban
delegation. The attack occurred shortly
after the Commission passed a resolution
critical of Cuba's human rights record.
Calzon directed Freedom House's Cuba programs
for over ten years.
Members of the Cuban delegation have also
intimidated and threatened Freedom House
representatives at recent meetings of the
Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
"This type of behavior is not just
a breach of diplomatic protocol, but is
itself a human rights violation," said
Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer
Windsor. "A brutal attack inside the
very building where the Commission on Human
Rights meets only underscores the deep crisis
the Commission finds itself in today,"
she said.
Countries like Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China,
and Zimbabwe, enjoy membership on the Commission.
They and other repressive regimes lobby
aggressively to prevent passage of condemnatory
resolutions.
"The climate of immunity and impunity
that today prevails at the Human Rights
Commission must end," said Ms. Windsor.
"The United Nations must make it abundantly
clear to all delegations that intimidating
and physically assaulting anyone on or off
UN grounds is unacceptable and punishable,
despite Cuba's claims of diplomatic immunity.
The credibility of the Commission and of
the UN is on the line," she said.
The 53-member Commission passed the resolution
on Cuba by a vote of 22-21, with 10 abstentions.
While critical of Cuba's treatment of dissidents,
the resolution does not call for the release
of 75 peaceful reform advocates, jailed
by the Cuban government one year ago, some
for up to 28 years.
"It appears that the only way to pass
a resolution against Cuba was to phrase
it in mild and vague language," said
Ms. Windsor. "That a relatively weak
resolution passed by only one vote is an
additional item of concern."
A Freedom House delegation recently returned
from Geneva, where it presented its annual
list of the "Most Repressive Societies"
to the Commission on April 2. Five of the
fifteen countries are members of the Commission.
The report, titled "The Worst of the
Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies,
2004," includes detailed summations
of the dire human rights situations in Burma,
China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea,
Laos, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia,
Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
and Vietnam. Chechnya, Tibet, and Western
Sahara are included as territories under
Russian, Chinese, and Moroccan jurisdiction
respectively.
The report is excerpted from Freedom House's
annual global survey, Freedom in the World
2004. The countries deemed the most repressive
earn some of the worst numerical ratings
according to the survey's methodology.
The report is available online at: www.freedomhouse.org/research/mrr2004.pdf
Significantly, five of the fifteen most
repressive governments -- those of China,
Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan --
are members of the Commission on Human Rights,
representing nearly 10 percent of the total
membership.
"The influence of this group of states
on the Commission's proceedings highlights
the urgent need for the democratic member
states of the UN body to finally band together
and create a permanent democracy caucus
that would work as an effective counter-bloc,"
said Ms. Windsor.
©2002 Freedom House,
Inc.
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