[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 62 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 62
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the human rights situation
in Cuba.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 22, 2001
Mr. Lieberman (for himself, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Graham, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Helms,
Mr. Ensign, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Torricelli, Mr.
Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Sessions, Mr. DeWine, and Mr. Santorum)
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, according to the Department of State and international human rights
organizations, the Cuban government continues to commit widespread and
well-documented human rights violations against the Cuban people and to
detain hundreds more as political prisoners;
Whereas the Castro regime systematically violates all of the fundamental civil
and political rights of the Cuban people, denying freedoms of speech,
press, assembly, movement, religion, and association, the right to
change their government, and the right to due process and fair trials;
Whereas, in law and in practice, the Cuban government restricts the freedom of
religion of the Cuban people and engages in efforts to control and
monitor religious institutions through surveillance, infiltration,
evictions, restrictions on access to computer and communication
equipment, and harassment of religious professionals and lay persons;
Whereas the totalitarian regime of Fidel Castro actively suppresses all peaceful
opposition and dissent by the Cuban people using undercover agents,
informers, rapid response brigades, Committees for the Defense of the
Revolution, surveillance, phone tapping, intimidation, defamation,
arbitrary detention, house arrest, arbitrary searches, evictions, travel
restrictions, politically motivated dismissals from employment, and
forced exile;
Whereas workers' rights are effectively denied by a system in which foreign
investors are forced to contract labor from the Cuban government and to
pay the regime in hard currency knowing that the regime will pay less
than 5 percent of these wages in local currency to the workers
themselves;
Whereas these abuses by the Cuban government violate internationally accepted
norms of conduct;
Whereas the Senate is mindful of the admonishment of President Ernesto Zedillo
of Mexico during the last Ibero-American Summit in Havana, Cuba, that
``[t]here can be no sovereign nations without free men and women. Men
and women who can freely exercise their essential freedoms: freedom of
thought and opinion, freedom of participation, freedom of dissent,
freedom of decision.'';
Whereas President Vaclav Havel, an essential figure in the Czech Republic's
transition to democracy, has counseled that ``[w]e thus know that by
voicing open criticism of undemocratic conditions in Cuba, we encourage
all the brave Cubans who endure persecution and years of prison for
their loyalty to the ideals of freedom and human dignity'';
Whereas former President Lech Walesa, leader of the Polish solidarity movement,
has urged the world to ``mobilize its resources, just as was done in
support of Polish Solidarnosc and the Polish workers, to express their
support for Cuban workers and to monitor labor rights'' in Cuba;
Whereas efforts to document, expose, and address human rights abuses in Cuba are
complicated by the fact that the Cuban government continues to deny
international human rights and humanitarian monitors access to the
country;
Whereas Pax Christi further reports (September 2000) that these efforts are
complicated because ``a conspiracy of silence has fallen over Cuba'' in
which diplomats and entrepreneurs refuse even to discuss labor rights
and other human rights issues in Cuba, some ``for fear of endangering
the relations with the Cuban government'', and businessmen investing in
Cuba ``openly declare that the theme of human rights was not of their
concern'';
Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in
Geneva provides an excellent forum to spotlight human rights and
expressing international support for improved human rights performance
in Cuba and elsewhere;
Whereas the goal of United States policy in Cuba is to promote a peaceful
transition to democracy through an active policy of assisting the
peaceful forces of change on the island;
Whereas the United States may provide assistance through appropriate
nongovernmental organizations to help individuals and organizations to
promote nonviolent democratic change and promote respect for human
rights in Cuba; and
Whereas the President is authorized to engage in democracy-building efforts in
Cuba, including the provision of (1) publications and other
informational materials on transitions to democracy, human rights, and
market economies to independent groups in Cuba; (2) humanitarian
assistance to victims of political repression and their families; (3)
support for democratic and human rights groups in Cuba; and (4) support
for visits and permanent deployment of democratic and international
human rights monitors in Cuba: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That (a) the Senate condemns the repressive and
totalitarian actions of the Cuban government against the Cuban people.
(b) It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the President should establish an action-oriented
policy of directly assisting the Cuban people and independent
organizations to strengthen the forces of change and to improve
human rights in Cuba;
(2) such policy should be modeled on the bipartisan United
States support for the Polish Solidarity (Solidarnosc) movement
under former President Ronald Reagan and involving United
States trade unions; and
(3) the President should make all efforts necessary at the
meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva
in 2001 to obtain the passage by the Commission of a resolution
condemning the Cuban government for its human rights abuses,
and to secure the appointment of a Special Rapporteur for Cuba.
Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this
resolution to the President.
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