Search Results for: Cuba and Human rights

The US State Department Tuesday released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report which held China and 10 other countries responsible for enabling the practice of human trafficking within their borders. The report surveys and evaluates the trafficking prevention efforts of 188 countries, and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken estimated that 25 million people remain [...]

The US Department of State Saturday announced visa restrictions on 28 Cuban officials allegedly involved in the violent crackdown on the July 2021 protests. This is the US’s fourth round of visa restrictions on Cuban officials. The US Department of Treasury has also instituted four rounds of financial sanctions against many of the same targets. According [...]

The Biden-Harris administration Friday re-added Cuba to the United States’ list of countries which are “not cooperating fully against terrorism.” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made the announcement via Public Notice 11747 in the Federal Register. The full list includes Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. Blinken must now submit the updated list to Congress [...]

The National Assembly of People’s Power, Cuba’s Parliament, Sunday approved a new penal code as part of judicial reforms initiated after the approval of a new constitution in April, 2019. President Miguel Diaz-Canel and former President Raul Castro, who governed from 2008 to 2018, attended the session. The new penal code reinforces sanctions for acts [...]

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Thursday passed a resolution to initiate an investigation into possible war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine. The investigation will be conducted by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry, an independent commission under the UNHRC responsible for coordinating and reporting upon national and international investigations. The commission is [...]

The mass exodus of women and children from Ukraine has sparked the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.  More than three million refugees have poured out of Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country on February 24. Upwards of 1.8 million of those refugees have crossed into Poland. And [...]

The basic international law One of the most fundamental rules of international law is that States are prohibited from using force to resolve their international disputes. Any State that uses force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another State violates this solemn rule of international law. Applying this rule, the use of force [...]

A group of United Nations experts Monday condemned the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, calling it a site of “unparalleled notoriety.” January 11 marks the twentieth anniversary of the arrival of the first terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay. The independent experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, said: Twenty years of practicing [...]

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken Thursday announced that the US State Department had imposed visa restrictions on eight Cuban officials accused of silencing protests through repression, unlawful detentions, and harsh prison sentences. In July 2021, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in anti-government protests, motivated by dissatisfaction with the Cuban government’s handling of the economy, [...]

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced Tuesday that the US Department of State will restrict nine Cuban officials’ visas. The nine officials are Ministries of the Interior and the Revolutionary Armed Forces high-ranking members. The restrictions follow Cuba’s interference with peaceful demonstrators last month. The nine officials are accused of attempting “to silence the [...]