EU Presidency declaration on human rights in Cuba

The European Union is deeply concerned at the recent trials and sentencing of a further group of 13 Cuban human rights activists and journalists, all of whom were arrested while peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, opinion, association and assembly, principles the EU strongly defends.

The EU strongly condemns the conduct of the trials, which once again failed to meet international standards in relation to due process. The EU also deplores the disproportionate severity of the sentences handed down to the dissidents, viz. prison sentences of up to seven years for nine activists and house arrest for four others.

The EU recalls the Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in Cuba, adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights on 15 April 2004, which "deplores the events which occurred last year in Cuba involving verdicts against certain political dissidents and journalists", a reference to the trials and sentencing of 75 dissidents in March and April 2003. The EU calls on the Cuban authorities to release all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners without delay and joins the Commission on Human Rights in urging the Cuban authorities to cooperate with the Personal Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In the light of continuing disturbing reports that some dissidents have suffered from ill-treatment and ill-health, the EU once again urges the Cuban authorities to comply with international human rights standards and norms for the treatment of prisoners.

The EU will continue to monitor flagrant violations of fundamental civil and political rights by the Cuban authorities - which negatively affect relations and cooperation between the EU and Cuba - and will take these violations into account in its re-evaluation of the Common Position on Cuba in June 2004.

The EU's serious concerns, as outlined above, have been conveyed directly to the Cuban authorities.

The Candidate Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this declaration.

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