April 13, 2018, Geneva. Today, Cuban diplomats were conspicuously absent as the Cuban government was strongly condemned for its treatment of human rights defenders and, particularly, for preventing two activists from traveling to Geneva to speak at the pre-session to Cuba's third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council.
Diplomats representing eleven missions to the United Nations in Geneva (Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States) took to the floor to denounce Cuba’s arbitrary decision. Delegates of 30 countries and many members of international NGOs witnessed a highly unusual diplomatic clobbering of the Cuban dictatorship. Germany's representative was especially poignant in stating it was time for the international community to stop paying lip service to protect human rights defenders in Cuba and do something about it.
Mona M'Bikay, the Executive Director of UPR-Info.org who moderated the session, opened the forum by explaining that the empty chairs (three out of the five expected speakers) spoke clearly of the arbitrary nature of the Cuban government's action.
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el jueves de alarmante el retroceso en materia de protección de los derechos humanos en las Américas, especialmente en cuanto a niños, adolescentes, pueblos indígenas, migrantes y refugiados.