New York, 10 December 2020. Cuba has maintained a traditional relationship of cooperation with the United Nations human rights mechanisms that are applied on an objective and non-discriminatory basis. In 2018, it underwent the Universal Periodic Review for the third time. In addition, Cuba submitted reports to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) in 2017, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in 2018, and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2019. In 2021, Cuba must submit its periodic reports to the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Cuba's prestige allowed the country to be elected a founding member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2006-2009 period, and to join the body for three more terms (2009-2012, 2014-2016 and 2017-2019). Last October, the General Assembly elected Cuba to a new term on the Human Rights Council (2021-2023 period), with 170 votes out of 193 possible.
As a member of the Human Rights Council, Cuba will continue to advocate for dialogue and cooperation as the only way to truly advance in terms of promotion and protection of all human rights for all persons. In this regard, Cuba will continue to oppose the manipulation of this issue and the entrenchment of selective practices, punitive approaches and double standards against developing countries.
The vocation of the Cuban State to increasingly raise its performance in this area and to create conditions conducive to better enjoyment of all rights for all has also been strengthened in the face of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. State authorities, together with the people, have promoted a wide range of political, economic, administrative, logistical and social measures with the aim of guaranteeing health care and other basic needs of the entire population in the context of the pandemic.
No one in Cuba has been, nor will be left to their own devices, because the country will always give priority to the life and dignity of the people. That is Cuba's commitment to its people and humanity.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations