Global Policy Forum

By Naomi Koppel

Geneva - The US economic boycott of Cuba may be affecting the human rights situation of Cuban women and even leading to domestic violence, a United Nations expert said in a report released Friday.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, a UN expert on violence against women, said the sanctions "have a significant impact on the social and economic situation of Cuban women" and called on Washington to lift the boycott. Coomaraswamy added that women have generally done well since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, although she expressed concerns about some laws and attitudes.

The Sri Lankan investigator, who visited Cuba for six days last June, said she was the first UN human rights specialist allowed to go there by the Cuban government. In her 26-page report to the 53-nation Human Rights Commission, she said she hoped the visit would help future cooperation. Coomaraswamy said the US embargo has led to a lack of medicines in hospitals and that women were suffering hardships at home which could lead to domestic violence.

There was no immediate response from US officials, but Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told the commission Thursday that Cuba continues to "suppress dissent, deny free speech, outlaw free assembly, and harass human rights advocates and others who seek independence of action and thought."

UN rights experts have consistently criticized the US embargo while at the same time criticizing the human rights situation in Cuba. In her report, Coomaraswamy said that although the United Nations had often expressed concerns about Cuba's rights record, the revolution had been a "turning point" for women.

Women represent 58 percent of university graduates and 60 percent of judges are female. In some fields, such as medicine, authorities are considering setting university quota for men. "Women's liberation has progressed in the professional sphere, in urban life and in rural areas," she said. But she expressed concern about women suffering domestic violence and said she did not believe claims that there was no sexual harassment in the workplace.

She also called on the government to dismantle "rehabilitation centers" where prostitutes can be sent for up to four years even though prostitution is not illegal.

Last year the Human Rights Commission narrowly voted to voice concern "at the continued violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba, such as freedom of expression, association and assembly and rights associated with the administration of justice." The Czech Republic and Poland have drafted a similar resolution for this year's meeting.

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