Cuba+for+South+Justice+in+UN+Human+Rights+Council,+Embassy+of+Cuba

Embassy of Cuba Media Release, 15-Mar-2007 22:25
=Cuba Backs UN Human Rights Council and claim for South Justice=

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque denounced that the US and its allies are plotting to harm the reputation of the Human Rights Council. When speaking at the fourth ordinary period of sessions of that UN instance, the Cuban minister said there are intentions to delay the Council’s institutional structure and return to the practice of punitive resolutions against southern countries.

The term to approve mechanisms related to its functioning will expire on June 18, he recalled, warning it should not be postponed. Perez Roque referred to the Cuban statement at the Council’s opening session in favour of creating a proper system for the promotion and protection of human rights for all, not only rich or privileged people.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque also rejected imposing illegitimate commands on countries of the South, while systematic US human rights violations, under the alleged anti-terror fight go unnoticed in speech during the top level section of the fourth Ordinary Period of Sessions of the Human Rights Council, the minister pointed out that is the real hindrance the new instance should rid.

Cuba supports strengthening the system of thematic rapporteurs, as they were never so much required in a world where over 852 million people are victims of hunger, there are torture centers at the Guantanamo naval base, and prisoners are rendered in secrete flights to clandestine jails, where they are tortured.

"Cuba was elected with 135 votes, while the United States refrained from submitting to a secret ballot. Even so, Washington and its friends wish to prolong the construction of the council refusing to debate with the current Directive Board or its members," he added.

The Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque also assured on Monday that countries of the South are victims of an absurd and cruel international order that impedes development, peace and progress. Perez Roque talked on behalf of the Non-Aligned Countries Movement (NAM), currently presided over by Cuba, at the UN Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in Paris.

Find attached the full texts of the speeches of the H. E. Mr. Felipe Pérez Roque, at the official ceremony for the revitalization of the Non-aligned Movement in UNESCO, in Paris 12th march 2007 and at the 4th Session of the Human Rights Council, in Geneva, 13 March 2007.


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__Links to statements of the Cuban Foreign Minister:__


 * **//Statement of Felipe Perez Roque to Non-Aligned Movement in UNESCO, Paris, 12 March 2007//**


 * **//Statement of Felipe Perez Roque to UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, 13 March 2007//**