The government remains undecided on whether to vote next month in favour of Cuba becoming a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, despite a request from Cuban Ambassador to The Bahamas, Felix Wilson to do so.
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said The Bahamas had not yet made a decision on the matter. He indicated that the issue would be discussed today and tomorrow at the Council of Foreign Ministers of CARICOM (COFCOR) meeting in Grenada before any decision is made.
“But why not vote for Cuba?” asked Mr Wilson in an interview with The Guardian yesterday. “The Bahamas is our neighbour and The Bahamas is our friend and friendly countries all over the world support one another.”
He added, “Cuba has always been there for The Bahamas. Cuba has been helping The Bahamas in education, in medicine and providing doctors. We support The Bahamas whenever possible.”
Mr Wilson then pointed out that Cuba had always been a part of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and that the Human Rights Council was simply a new body that would be charged with examining the same global human rights issues.
On May 9, the UN is expected to vote 47 members to the Council, which replaces its 53-member Commission. The vote for the Council in the 191-member UN General Assembly on March 15 was 170 in favour, three abstentions and four against. The United States was one of the four that voted against the Council.
The Associated Press reported that the Bush administration refused to back the new Council, saying “it was not the radical reform Washington wanted to ensure that countries such as Cuba, Sudan, Myanmar and Zimbabwe – known as rights abusers – are barred from membership.”
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said last week that the US would not be a candidate in the UN vote, though it would support and finance the new Council and likely seek a seat next year.
“The United States will actively campaign on behalf of candidates genuinely committed to the promotion and protection of human rights and will also actively campaign against states that systematically abuse human rights,” Mr McCormack explained.
However, Mr Wilson said it was clear that the US had a weak argument against Cuba, adding that the Superpower was on a mission to demonise countries whose governments it opposes. He charged that the US should be the last country to talk about human rights, as it has been frequently criticised for such abuses at its Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre in Cuba and at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.
Amnesty International condemned the US in 2004 after American military personnel were seen on television stations around the world abusing naked Iraqi prisoners.
Mr Wilson said he was not expecting a diplomatic crisis to develop between The Bahamas and the US if the Bahamian government threw its support behind Cuba in the UN vote. However, The Bahamas recently was caught in the middle of a diplomatic squabble between the US and Cuba over the detention of two Cuban dentists here. Florida Governor Jeb Bush met with Prime Minister Perry Christie on the matter on February 20, and the Cubans were finally released on March 14, after an 11-month stay.
By: MINDELL SMALL, The Nassau Guardian
