Statement delivered by Juan Antonio Fernández Palacios, Representative of the Republic of Cuba

Geneva, March 14, 2005

 

Mr. Chairman:

We are greatly pleased to see you leading the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights. Your election reflects the recognition for your experience and for the prestige of Indonesia, which is an outstanding member of this body. This is also an auspicious opportunity to express our recognition to your predecessor, Ambassador Mike Smith, for his honest and dedicated Chairpersonship of the 60th session.

Mr. Chairman:

You are taking up a huge challenge. The Commission on Human Rights is a sinking boat. It is wrecked because of its growing lack of credibility and prestige. It is sinking as a result of the political manipulation and its double standards. Its sinking is marked by its inconsistencies and the impunity enjoyed by a few privileged, who benefit from the irrational world order in which we have had to live.

It is not us, the developing countries- poor and marginalized- the responsible for this state of things. We have always been the defendants in this forum, turned into an Inquisition tribunal for the rich. We have also been the voice of resistance, the muscle bearing all pressures when attempts have been made to unjustly accuse one of our brothers. We have likewise been the open rostrum to denounce the plans to put a wall of silence around the truths and to close the eyes to the sad realities of a world overwhelmed by the unlimited power of an arrogant superpower, which lacks ethical standards and a sense of humanity.

The alarm has been raised everywhere: we have to save the boat, we have to keep it afloat, and we have to make it sail again. Will this be this possible? Is it just a matter of patching up, of doing some body work and then keep sailing as usual? No, I do not think so. We need not only to rebuild our boat. We also need safer oceans to sail through. We call for another code of principles and values for the crew.

The Commission on Human Rights cannot be half-reformed. It has to be re-founded from its own foundations. In times of shipwreck, a large number of proposals have emerged; some of them are already among us. They all seem insufficient. A few dare open up old wounds. We need to address the root of the problem, which is very familiar to all of us.

 

The problems of this Commission are not, in essence, organizational or technical. It is not a matter of how many we are, but of how we behave. This Commission’s legitimacy is undermined by the membership of a superpower which tramples upon human rights and curtails liberties.

The problems of this Commission are fundamentally marked by political manipulation, the cynical use of its mechanisms by industrialized countries in their plans of domination, and the grossest selectivity. Our organizational deficiencies are an expression of that very manipulation and the tool with which they try to apply it.

A true reform should begin by eliminating the pernicious practice of imposing unjust resolutions against countries, always from a confrontational perspective, with a colonial vision and motivations of domination and political control. It should put an end to double standards, to the unlimited hypocrisy, to the impunity of the most powerful. It should reorient our work through dialogue and cooperation. It should devote more time to and allocate more resources to the effective realization of economic, social and cultural rights, and particularly the always postponed the right to development.

Cuba does not bring magic formulas to this Commission. Cuba is here, as usual, ready to work and cooperate in an effort that must be collective. Cuba is here to fight and promote the noblest causes to build a better world of equity and justice which makes wellbeing viable for all. Cuba has also come to defenestrate lies, to fight the impunity of the powerful, and to undress the hypocrisy of their acolytes.

Mr. Chairman:

These words might have irritated the ears of some distinguished delegates. Had it been the case I am sorry, but it is gospel truth.

Thank you very much.