CSC submits evidence ahead of UN Special Rapporteur's visit to Cuba
Campaign News | Wednesday, 5 November 2025
UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, Professor Alena Douhan
READ CSC'S SUBMISSION TO THE UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR HERE
The UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures will be visiting Cuba next week to examine the extent to which the blockade impedes the full realisation of Cubans’ human rights.
Professor Alena Douhan, who took up her role on 25 March 2020, will be in Cuba from 11 – 21 November and will meet with UN agencies in Cuba, as well as international organisations, NGOs, diplomats, academics and representatives of the Cuban government.
On 26 September 2014, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on human rights and unilateral coercive measures. The resolution stressed that unilateral coercive measures and legislation are contrary to international law, international humanitarian law, the UN Charter and the norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States. It also highlighted that, long-term, these measures may result in social problems and raise humanitarian concerns.
Ahead of Professor Douhan’s visit to Cuba, organisations were invited to submit evidence on the matter. The Cuba Solidarity Campaign's (CSC) 18-page submission detailed how the now 63-year-old blockade impacts on a range of Cubans’ economic, social, cultural and human rights.
It described the blockade as “a form of collective punishment, disproportionately harming the most vulnerable members of society – women, children, the elderly, the disabled – and constitutes a massive, flagrant, and systematic violation of human rights.”
Describing the “purported humanitarian exemptions” of the blockade as “illusory” given the “global system of financial over-compliance,” CSC urged the Special Rapporteur to call for the blockade's immediate and unconditional end.
Professor Douhan’s visit comes just over a year after she and other human rights experts expressed their concerns about the continued designation of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism by the US government.
The Special Rapporteur will present her conclusions and recommendations in a report that will be submitted to the 63rd Session of the Human Rights Council in September 2026.
