For too long, Cuba’s authoritarian leaders have largely been able to avoid being held accountable for their numerous human rights abuses. For a recent example, look no further than Cuba’s election on Oct. 13 to the UN Human Rights Council, where it will join other rights violators such as China and Russia.
Still, this avoidance is becoming increasingly more difficult on the issue of religious freedom. This year, the Cuban government’s egregious and often violent disregard for this right caught the attention of human rights officials at the United Nations. On May 13, four Special Rapporteurs — on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and minority issues — in addition to the working group on arbitrary detention, issued a communication to the Cuban government raising concerns about violations against a Cuban pastor and his church.
