[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13510]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              CUBA'S ELECTION TO U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

  (Mr. SIRES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I am outraged by the persistent failure of 
the United Nations Human Rights Council to fulfill its responsibilities 
to promote and protect human rights. The U.N. Human Rights Council has 
consistently targeted Israel and recently displayed a flagrant 
disregard for a strong human rights agenda with the election of the 
Cuban ambassador as vice president of the council.
  The State Department 2009 report on human rights described Cuba as a 
totalitarian state that continues to deny its citizens their basic 
human rights and commits numerous and serious abuses. It is appalling 
that a country with such a poor human rights record has been elected as 
a leader of a body to create, to protect, and promote universal human 
rights.
  While these election results are absurd, they are reflective of a 
larger problem--the overall state of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The 
council doesn't need to improve its record on protecting human rights; 
it needs to reverse its record. If the council continues to ignore its 
own members' egregious human rights records and persists in its anti-
Israel campaign, then maybe the United States should move its funds and 
participate elsewhere.

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