Cuba denounces damage caused by U.S. blockade at Human Rights Council

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 13 (ACN) During the 54th session of the Human Rights Council, Juan Antonio Quintanilla, Cuba's permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, denounced the damages caused by the U.S. blockade and described it as the most severe and long-lived unilateral coercive measure ever applied against a country.

The official stressed that the said policy is both the main obstacle to the development of the Cuban people and a flagrant violation of their human rights, as proved by irrefutable evidence, gathered over the years, of its criminal purpose and malicious nature.

Quintanilla also referred to the efforts of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to devise a more balanced, realistic and inclusive strategy that takes heed of the needs of the countries of the South and based on the protection of human rights, which is closely related to the promotion of respect, understanding, dialogue, cooperation, and non-interference in the internal affairs of States.

The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental United Nations body made up of 47 States entrusted with the promotion and protection of human rights around the world.