The EU must place civil society at the heart of negotiations with Cuba

04/02/2015
Press release
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The sudden thaw in US-Cuban relations last December created an understandable euphoria among most world diplomacies, prompting High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) to announce that “another Wall had started to fall”. Yet the prospects for a progressive opening of Cuba does not automatically mean that a democratisation process in under way on the island. Despite the recent liberation of 53 political prisoners, dozens of persons remain in Cuban jails for political reasons. The independent civil society on the island continues to be judicially and physically harassed on a daily basis and cannot express itself freely. In this context, the role of the European Union can be decisive. The EU has been negotiating for nearly a year a future political and cooperation agreement with Cuba. FIDH and its Cuban league CCDHRN publish a joint advocacy note entailing recommendations to the EU.

January2015_FIDH-CCDHRN Advocacy Note EU-Cuba

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