US presenting resolution against Cuba at UN rights commission News
US presenting resolution against Cuba at UN rights commission

[JURIST] US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Lagon has said the United States will seek international censure of Cuba's human rights record by presenting a resolution at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights [official website]. The resolution will look at prior actions taken by the commission to determine whether Cuba has been acting to conform to their requirements. The resolution also seeks the extension of the mandate of the Catherine Chanet, the UN special rapporteur, who is examining the human rights situation in Cuba. Cuba has refused to cooperate with Chanet. Lagon said European and Latin American countries will support the resolution while Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has stated the US will not get the support required to pass the resolution. Last year, the commission voted to adopt a resolution which criticized the crackdown on dissidents in Cuba. Chanet has warned that these dissidents are being held in "alarming conditions." AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.