A UN human rights official has urged the United States to lift its sanctions on Cuba, saying they affect all of the island’s population, hitting sectors including health care, nutrition and education.
Havana — A United Nations human rights expert on Friday urged the United States to lift the sanctions it imposes on Cuba, saying that they affect all of the island’s residents, and hit sectors including health care, nutrition and education.
Alina Douhan, special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, said it was her second visit to Cuba – her first in 2023 – and she had noticed further deterioration in all sectors due to tougher measures imposed by Washington.
“For low-income communities, high inflation as well as scarcity of resources makes it extremely difficult to even obtain proper nutrition,” she said, calling on the United States to stop using sanctions and “maximum pressure restrictions.”
In late October, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn this crime US economic embargo on Cuba For the year 33.
Cuba has struggled since 2020 with Economic crisis and energy crisis. Its gross domestic product I’ve shrunkIts population of 10 million suffers from power outages. Food shortages and inflation. Cuban officials blamed economic pressure on coronavirus lockdowns, Stricter US sanctions And other factors.
“While we talk about children as a very vulnerable group, the fact that these children do not get adequate meals means that educational and cultural programs as well as participation in any developmental activity for children have decreased significantly” because there are no resources to do so, she said.
Doohan said Cubans are affected by the shortage of medicines.
She said: “As I indicated in my report, 69% of the medicines needed by the people in Cuba are not available, and for this reason we are observing an increasing death rate.”
The ban was imposed in 1960 after that Fidel Castro He led a revolution that overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista and nationalized property owned by American citizens and corporations.
In 2016, Cuban Pres Raul Castro And President Barack Obama Officially restored relations. That year, the United States abstained, for the first time, from voting on a General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the blockade.
Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, has strongly criticized Cuba’s human rights record. The United States again voted against the resolution In 2017 and since then.
Sanctions increased significantly during Trump’s first term, continued under his successor, President Joe Biden, and were tightened again after Trump returned to office this year.