Cuba ratifies enforced disappearance convention
Campaign News | Tuesday, 3 February 2009
In what constitutes a new gesture of cooperation by Cuba with UN human rights mechanisms, the Caribbean nation ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
According to the Prensa Latina news agency, the delivery of the ratification instrument of this new treaty was made by Abelardo Moreno, the Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, during a brief ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York.
Cuba is the eighth country to ratify this Convention, which needs the ratification of at least 20 countries to come into force.
This is the 42nd international treaty or convention on human rights that Cuba has sanctioned.
“This shows Cuba’s willingness to strengthen its cooperation with the universal mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights, on the basis of respect for the sovereignty of our country and self-determination,” Moreno said.
During a brief meeting with reporters, the Cuban representative added that Cuba has resisted 50 years of aggressions, terrorist attacks and economic blockade and it has never resorted to enforced disappearances, torture or extrajudicial executions.
The ratification of the convention was preceded by the announcement that the Cuban Government has invited the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Manfred Nowak, to visit the country this year.
