A stick to beat Cuba:US bullying of the UN human rights group must stop

[Judi Lynn]

A stick to beat Cuba

US bullying of the UN human rights group must stop

Ian Gibson
Friday April 15, 2005
The Guardian

Kofi Annan last week told the UN Human Rights Commission it needed reform. Its loss of credibility, he warned, was harming the UN. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have argued that the manipulation of the commission by member states for political purposes is damaging its ability to serve the millions who suffer appalling abuses.
There is no more striking example of this than the way in which the US annually uses the commission as a platform to attack Cuba - and then uses its condemnation to justify the continuing blockade of the country. This year more than 4,500 intellectuals, including Mikhail Gorbachev and five Nobel prize winners, have signed a letter calling on member states to reject Washington's resolution on Cuba when voting takes place in the next few days.
(snip)

Cuba is the only country in the world subjected annually to a resolution condemning its human rights record. Despite the fact that Cuba's record is exemplary compared with, say, US allies such as Colombia or Saudi Arabia, these countries are not subject to US-sponsored condemnation. So biased is the tactic that in order to get the resolution passed, the US ritually resorts to economic blackmail. By threatening to withdraw aid, by offering loans, or by bullying, the US bends countries to its will. Even so, last year the resolution only squeaked through by one vote.
(snip)

The disproportionate and vindictive treatment of Cuba must be stopped. And the way in which the rich countries manipulate the commission needs to be addressed. The Bush administration will use another ill-gotten resolution to defend its continuing blockade, itself condemned by the UN as illegal. It is this greater crime that is being obscured.
(snip/)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,11983,1460388,00.html

[Jade Fox]

1. The irrational hatred of Cuba by the US...

mystifies me. Sure, we would love to have access to their natural
sources, and to be able to build luxury hotels (and collect the profits from
same) on their beautiful, unspoiled beaches.

But the bottom line is: Cuba is a small country. What would we really
gain by forcing "democracy" on them, as we are in Iraq?