Cuba on Thursday signed two cornerstone UN covenants on human rights passed more than 40 years ago in an unprecedented gesture that came just days after Raul Castro took over as president.
For decades, former president Fidel Castro had refused to sign the two covenants adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966, saying to do so would be to cede to US pressure.
But Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told reporters that foreign pressure played no part in his signing of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
PHOTO: AP
The signing "formalizes and reaffirms Cuba's commitment to the rights protected in both instruments, which my country has been systematically implementing since the time of the Cuban revolution in 1959," he said after conferring with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "The act of signing both covenants responds to a sovereign decision of the Cuban government."
"Cuba has never acted nor will act under pressure," he said.
It was the first international act taken by the new leadership of Raul Castro, who took over on Sunday.
But Perez Roque said that "as far as the scope and application of several of the elements contained in these international instruments, Cuba will register those reservations or interpretative declarations it considers relevant."
Reacting to the signing of the rights treaties, the Cuban opposition demanded political pluralism and an end to harassment.
The most radical dissidents in Cuba denounced what they called "a farce" while their more moderate counterparts voiced hope the move would open the way for freedom of expression.
A total of 236 known political prisoners are held in Cuban jails.
"Now that Cuba has signed an international human rights treaty committing itself to uphold freedom of expression, it should immediately and unconditionally release the 22 independent journalists currently imprisoned for their work," said Carlos Lauria, Americas senior program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York.
Perez Roque also used the occasion to again call for the lifting of the US trade and economic embargo in force against his country since 1962.
The embargo and Washington's hostility against Cuba constitute the most serious obstacle to the enjoyment by the Cuban people of the rights protected by the covenants, he said.
Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush on Thursday slammed Raul Castro as a "tyrant" lacking legitimacy and unworthy of bilateral leadership-level talks.
"He's nothing more than the extension of what his brother did, which was to ruin an island and imprison people because of their beliefs," Bush told a White House press conference on Thursday.
Raul Castro was elected to the presidency in a vote by the national assembly.
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
RSS