Cuba to Sign World Human
Rights Pacts
Cuban Foreign Affairs
Minister Felipe Perez
Roque announced on
Monday that Cuba will
soon sign the
International Covenant
on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights and the
International Covenant
on Civil and Political
Rights.
"This is the political
decision adopted by Cuba
and we announce it today
December 10, Human
Rights Day, because
today marks 59 years
since the UN General
Assembly proclaimed
International Human
Rights Day," noted Perez
Roque.
Addressing the press at
the Cuban Foreign
Ministry, Perez Roque
said that rights
included in both
covenants, which are the
most important
international tools of
human rights, are
largely protected by the
Cuban legal system, and
chiefly by the Cuban
Revolution since its
triumph in January 1959.
The foreign minister
predicted that this
decision, which will be
brought to fruition in
the first three months
of 2008, is an
expression that Cuba
always closely
cooperates with the
United Nations system,
based on the respect to
Cuba"s national
sovereignty and the
right of its people to
self determination.
He confirmed that while
US manipulations of
human rights issues
persisted, as well as
its attempts to use that
issue to justify the
blockade and aggression
against Cuba, there were
no minimum conditions to
assess new commitments
with the UN system.
However, Perez Roque
noted, that situation
has radically changed
with the creation of the
new Human Rights
Council, of which Cuba
was a founding member
with over a two-thirds
vote of the
international community. |
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