Geneva, 22 September 2025 — In the context of the current session of the Human Rights Council, the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations in Geneva organised an event, attended by numerous nations and representatives of civil society, to discuss possible new actions to be promoted in the Council to address unilateral coercive measures, given their growing impact on the violation of the human rights of millions of people around the world.
The panel was moderated by Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson, Permanent Representative of Cuba, and comprised Ambassador Alexander Yánez, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; Professor Alena Douhan, Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights; MsC. Yuefen Li, Senior Advisor on South-South Cooperation and Financing for Development at the South Centre; and Mr. David López, Coordinator of the non-governmental organisation International Association for Human Rights and Social Development.
The panellists emphasised the inherently illegal nature of unilateral coercive measures, as they violate the UN Charter and international law, including international human rights law. They illustrated their disproportionate impact on human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, and the right to development. Currently, more than 37,000 such measures are in place against 30 countries.
Various proposals for additional actions that could be adopted by the Human Rights Council to strengthen international condemnation of unilateral coercive measures were presented during the debate, including the systematic use of the online platform to document their impact; the creation of a Group of Experts to analyse the sectoral and geographical consequences of these measures; the adoption of an International Declaration on the subject; the holding of a high-level panel in the framework of the International Day against Unilateral Coercive Measures (4 December); increased denunciation by civil society and the submission of reports illustrating the human impact of the measures; and the inclusion of this aspect in Council resolutions on the right to food, health, education, adequate housing, prevention of genocide and others.
The intensification to unprecedented levels of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States government against Cuba was denounced, which in the last year alone has caused damage in the order of 7.5 billion dollars, and whose consequences on the daily life of the Cuban people and their human rights are incalculable.
The international community was invited to support the draft resolution ‘Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba’, which will be considered by the UN General Assembly on 28 and 29 October.