[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10084]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1900
             REMOVE CUBA FROM U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Burns). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from 
California (Mr. Rohrabacher) for allowing me to take this 5 minutes 
before the 1 hour that he has scheduled this evening.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss a disturbing development in 
Cuba's gross violation of human rights and recent crack down on its 
dissident community.
  Yesterday Cuba was re-elected to its seat on the United Nations' 
Human Rights Commission. This comes only weeks after the Castro regime 
sentenced 78 independent journalists, librarians, and opposition 
leaders to lengthy prison terms and executed 3 alleged hijackers who 
tried to escape to the United States.
  During this recent meeting of the Human Rights Commission, a 
resolution was passed that calls on Cuba to accept a visit by a human 
rights monitor. However, Cuba's reelection to the Commission still went 
uncontested. Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that it is outrageous 
that Cuba has been reelected as a member of the Commission only weeks 
after systematically trampling on the tenants the Commission was 
designed to uphold. I find it hard to believe that the Commission could 
question the human rights practices of a nation and then, in the same 
breath, appoint that same nation as a member of the Commission. Cuba 
should not be a member of the Human Rights Commission. Cuba should be 
investigated and condemned by the Human Rights Commission and not sit 
as a voting member.
  Mr. Speaker, this recent crackdown is considered by many to be Cuba's 
worst crackdown on its dissident community in the last decade. 
Unfortunately, these latest developments are nothing new and are simply 
the next step in the systematic denial of even the most basic human 
rights for the citizens of Cuba. I and many of my colleagues have 
spoken on this floor time and again of human rights violations in Cuba. 
We have called on the U.N. to condemn Cuba's continued violations of 
human rights standards, and their only reaction is to appoint the wolf 
in charge of the hen house.
  On Monday before the United Nations' vote, Secretary of State Colin 
Powell publicly denounced Cuba's actions and criticized the Castro 
regime as an aberration in the Western Hemisphere. Powell also 
mentioned that the administration is reviewing their policies towards 
Cuba in light of Powell cited as the deteriorating human rights 
situation.
  I would like to take this opportunity to applaud Secretary Powell for 
his strong statement on Cuba, and I urge the administration to take 
concrete actions against Castro's crackdown on its own people.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, the Human Rights Commission cannot continue 
to turn a blind eye to what has become a campaign by the Castro regime 
to silence all voices of peaceful opposition on the island. Allowing 
Cuba to remain a member only weakens the Commission's mandate. The 
United Nations must follow the leads of the United States and other 
nations that have condemned Cuba's action and remove Cuba as a member 
of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

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