Children’s rights, well-being ignored
The Miami Herald April 16, 2004
By FRANK CALZON
If there were one thing at which opponents of the Cuban government would prefer to see the government succeed, it would be ensuring the well-being and rights of Cuba’s children. Unfortunately, the absence of civil society on the island — as demonstrated by the government’s censorship of the press, denial of free association and assembly, harassment and imprisonment of dissidents — forces Cubans of goodwill to raise abroad the issue of children’s rights and to seek help from the international community.
If Havana would allow the U.N. Commission on Human Rights’ representative to visit the island, the following would be verified:
* While Cuban authorities invite thousands of foreign tourists to the island, providing them plenty of food and conveniences, Cuban children on their seventh birthday are no longer entitled to receive milk rations.
* With great pride Cuba’s government reports very low infant-mortality statistics, but authorities also acknowledge a very high abortion rate. Cuba’s health polices strongly encourage women with ”problem pregnancies” to abort.
* Years after the pastoral visit by Pope John Paul II, the government remains unmoved by his plea to close the infamous escuelas en el campo (schools in the countryside). Cuba’s teens are assigned to these schools, which are often far from home. Once there, the teens spend long hours working in the fields. Housing is poor. Adult supervision is inadequate, and there is a climate of great promiscuity. Given the conditions and mandatory labor, Cuba cannot rightly claim to provide free, public education.
* Cuba’s schools are designed to produce Leninist ”new men and women” — obedient individuals. Cuba’s children are taught to accept their leaders’ edicts unquestioningly and uncritically. Children stand at attention, raise one hand and chant an oath reminiscent of Stalin’s Russia or Franco’s Spain: !Comandante en jefe, ordene!(Commander-in-chief, at your orders!).
* Cuba’s health system is no example of Utopian, egalitarian socialism; rather it is an example of the worst 19th century exploitive capitalism. Despite the best intentions of Cuban physicians, the care rendered children in Cuban hospitals is frequently characterized by poor hygiene, poor diet and severe shortages of medicine. Foreigners traveling to the island under ”Servimed,” Cuba’s health-tourism agency, are treated in the best of facilities, where there is no shortage of medicines, diagnostic tests or equipment. Indeed, there is a well-stocked ”international pharmacy” in Miramar. It will not sell medications to Cubans. Occasionally tourists take pity on Cubans and purchase pharmaceuticals for them.
* Child prostitution is also a problem. A March 2002 released by Johns Hopkins University states: ”Cuba is increasingly reported to be a major destination for sex tourists from North America and Europe. Tourists have contributed to a sharp increase in child prostitution and exploitation of women in Cuba.”
These facts account for why Havana refuses to allow visits by a representative of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the PARLATINO, Latin America’s Parliament. Even the International Committee of the Red Cross continues to wait for permission to visit Cuba’s political prisons.
The European Union was shocked last year to hear Cuba’s leader reject its humanitarian assistance because EU authorities, too, were raising human-rights issues.
Jose Marti wrote, ”Children are the hope of the world.” I am sure that within the Cuban government there are men and women who recognize the absurdity of this continuing tragedy. I pray that they will join with other Cubans on the island and in the diaspora to build a happier country, one in which children are the hope of the world and the hope of all Cubans for a better future.
Frank Calzon is executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba. This article is adapted from his recent address before the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, where he was knocked unconscious yesterday by a Cuban diplomat.
