Geneva, 2 July 2026. The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Awa Dabo, addressed today the Human Rights Council panel on technical cooperation and capacity-building to support States in realizing the right to health.
In her remarks, the senior UN official stressed that sanctions and blockades are turning the health systems of several countries into hostages of global geopolitics.
In that context, she referred specifically to the case of Cuba, stating that, as a result of the economic blockade and the energy siege, “children are dying without medicines and equipment” in the country.
Contrasting the application of unilateral coercive measures with the need for international cooperation, the UN representative called for greater investment in international solidarity to advance the realization of the right to health.
These statements add to the numerous denunciations made in recent months by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, regarding what he has described as the inhumane consequences for the Cuban people of the increasingly aggressive and harsh measures imposed by the Government of the United States.