Vol. 71/No. 48      December 24, 2007

That mandate had required enquiries on imperialist-backed allegations of human rights violations in Cuba. Reports on these “enquiries” were discussed annually at sessions of the UN Commission on Human Rights, a body that was replaced in 2006 by a Human Rights Council.

The decision to end the mandate was adopted by 168 governments in favor. The seven that voted against were the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. The latter three are virtual colonies of Washington.

Cuba presented the resolution on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement at the UN General Assembly’s Committee on Socio-Humanitarian Affairs.

Coming less than a month after the UN General Assembly adopted almost unanimously a resolution condemning the decades-long U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, this vote was a victory over U.S. attempts to pressure and isolate Cuba, that country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The vote also represents a defeat for the Canadian government. For years Ottawa has waged an unrelenting campaign against revolutionary Cuba, falsely seeking to brand it as a brutal dictatorship.

The Canadian government co-sponsored resolutions denouncing Cuba’s supposed violation of human rights 14 consecutive years at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This was done under governments of both the Liberal and Conservative parties.

In May 2003, the Canadian government, together with Uruguay and Chile, presented a statement attacking Cuba on this same question before the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States.  
 
 
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