Cuba Blasts the US and Other Western Nations over Anti-Racism Measures

The United States and the European Union, leading Western countries, recently opposed the adoption of resolutions against racism, discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, a position that Cuba denounced on Monday as at odds with the reality of those nations.

Following the fourth session of the Ad Hoc Committee on Contemporary Standards, a part of the Human Rights Council, Cuba’s Permanent Mission in Geneva circulated a document that exposes the alarming increase of discrimination and xenophobic practices in these Western countries.

The document denounces the rise of anti-immigrant, xenophobic and racist political parties and associations, Prensa Latina news agency reports.

Washington and Belgium (the headquarters of the European Union) both motioned against the issue, calling for a discussion on other topics at the next meeting, such as acts committed with the seal through the media and new technologies, and incitement to racial, ethnic or religious hatred.

The text was disseminated in the Swiss headquarters of the UN, and asserts that despite the importance of the committee’s work for the vast majority of countries, it has failed to fulfill its mandate to develop complementary standards to existing international instruments in these fields, as a matter of priority and necessity.

It was not possible to reach an agreement in the three sessions held previously, the statement said.

Cuba, along with many African and other developing nations, rejected the position of the West, claiming that it continues to impede the work of the committee with an attitude of double standards and hypocrisy.

Juan Antonio Quintanilla, Cuba’s representative in the Swiss city, threatened 11 days ago to intervene at the beginning of the fourth meeting of the committee, at which point both Washington and the European Union attempted to prevent the adoption of a work plan and even threatened to lock the session.

The diplomat said that currently there are new and sophisticated forms of discrimination, but in many cases they see a political will to eliminate them.