[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 289 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 289

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the human rights situation 
                                in Cuba.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 12, 2000

 Mr. Torricelli (for himself, Mr. Helms, Mr. Gramm, Mr. Mack, and Mr. 
  Reid) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the human rights situation 
                                in Cuba.

Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 
        Geneva, Switzerland, provides a forum for discussing human rights and 
        expressing international support for improved human rights performance;
Whereas the United States Department of State 1999 Country Reports on Human 
        Rights Practices, released on February 25, 2000, includes the following 
        statements describing conditions in Cuba:
            (1) ``Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by President Fidel 
        Castro....President Castro exercises control over all aspects of Cuban 
        life....The Communist Party is the only legal political entity....There 
        are no contested elections....The judiciary is completely subordinate to 
        the government and to the Communist Party....''.
            (2) ``The Ministry of Interior...investigates and actively 
        suppresses opposition and dissent. It maintains a pervasive system of 
        vigilance through undercover agents, informers, the rapid response 
        brigades, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution 
        (CDR's)....''.
            (3) ``[The government] continued systematically to violate 
        fundamental civil and political rights of its citizens. Citizens do not 
        have the right to change their government peacefully....The authorities 
        routinely continued to harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, 
        imprison, and defame human rights advocates and members of independent 
        professional associations, including journalists, economists, doctors, 
        and lawyers, often with the goal of coercing them into leaving the 
        country....''.
            (4) ``The government denied citizens the freedoms of speech, press, 
        assembly, and association....It limited the distribution of foreign 
        publications and news to selected party faithful and maintained strict 
        censorship of news and information to the public. The government kept 
        tight restrictions on freedom of movement, including foreign 
        travel....''.
            (5) ``The government continued to subject those who disagreed with 
        it to `acts of repudiation'. At government instigation, members of 
        state-controlled mass organizations, fellow workers, or neighbors of 
        intended victims are obliged to stage public protests against those who 
        dissent with the government's policies....Those who refuse to 
        participate in these actions face disciplinary action, including loss of 
        employment....''.
            (6) ``Detainees and prisoners often are subjected to repeated, 
        vigorous interrogations designed to coerce them into signing 
        incriminating statements....The government does not permit independent 
        monitoring of prison conditions....''.
            (7) ``Arbitrary arrest and detention continued to be problems, and 
        they remained the government's most effective weapons to harass 
        opponents....[T]he Constitution states that all legally recognized civil 
        liberties can be denied to anyone who actively opposes the `decision of 
        the Cuban people to build socialism'. The authorities invoke this 
        sweeping authority to deny due process to those detained on purported 
        state security grounds....''.
            (8) ``The Penal Code includes the concept of `dangerousness', 
        defined as the `special proclivity of a person to commit crimes, 
        demonstrated by his conduct in manifest contradiction of socialist 
        norms'. If the police decide that a person exhibits signs of 
        dangerousness, they may bring the offender before a court or subject him 
        to `therapy' or `political reeducation....' Often the sole evidence 
        provided, particularly in political cases, is the defendant's 
        confession, usually obtained under duress....''.
            (9) ``Human rights monitoring groups inside the country estimate the 
        number of political prisoners at between 350 and 400 
        persons....According to human rights monitoring groups inside the 
        country, the number of political prisoners increased slightly during the 
        year....''.
            (10) ``The government does not allow criticism of the revolution or 
        its leaders....Charges of disseminating enemy propaganda (which includes 
        merely expressing opinions at odds with those of the government) can 
        bring sentences of up to 14 years....Even the church-run publications 
        are watched closely, denied access to mass printing equipment, and 
        subject to governmental pressure....All media must operate under party 
        guidelines and reflect government views....''.
            (11) ``The law punishes any unauthorized assembly of more than 3 
        persons, including those for private religious services in a private 
        home....The authorities have never approved a public meeting by a human 
        rights group''.
            (12) ``The government kept tight restrictions on freedom of 
        movement....[S]tate security officials have forbidden human rights 
        advocates and independent journalists from traveling outside their home 
        provinces, and the government also has sentenced others to internal 
        exile''.
            (13) ``Citizens do not have the legal right to change their 
        government or to advocate change, and the government has retaliated 
        systematically against those who sought peaceful political change....An 
        opposition or independent candidate has never been allowed to run for 
        national office....''.
            (14) ``The government does not recognize any domestic human rights 
        groups, or permit them to function legally...the government refuses to 
        consider applications for legal recognition submitted by human rights 
        monitoring groups....The government steadfastly has rejected 
        international human rights monitoring''.
            (15) ``Workers can and have lost their jobs for their political 
        beliefs, including their refusal to join the official union....[T]he 
        government requires foreign investors to contract workers through state 
        employment agencies...workers...must meet certain political 
        qualifications...to ensure that the workers chosen deserve to work in a 
        joint enterprise....[E]xploitative labor practices force foreign 
        companies to pay the government as much as $500 to $600 per month for 
        workers, while the workers in turn receive only a small peso wage from 
        the government;''; and
Whereas the Czech Republic and Poland will again introduce a resolution 
        condemning human rights practices of the Government of Cuba at the 
        annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 
        Geneva, Switzerland: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN 
              CUBA.

    (a) Support for Human Rights Resolution.--The Senate hereby 
expresses its support for the decision of member states meeting at the 
56th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, 
Switzerland, to consider a resolution introduced by the Czech Republic 
and Poland that, among other things, calls upon Cuba to respect ``human 
rights and fundamental freedoms and to provide the appropriate 
framework to guarantee the rule of law through democratic institutions 
and the independence of the judicial system''.
    (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that the 
United States should make every effort necessary, including the 
engagement of high-level executive branch officials, to encourage 
cosponsorship of and support for this resolution on Cuba by other 
governments.
    (c) Transmittal of Resolution.--The Secretary of the Senate shall 
transmit a copy of this resolution to the Secretary of State with the 
request that a copy be further transmitted to the chief of diplomatic 
mission in Washington, D.C., of each member state represented on the 
United Nations Human Rights Commission.
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