BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Cuba makes human rights promise

Cuba makes human rights promise
Cuba is going to sign up to two major United Nations agreements on civil and political rights, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque confirmed.
Legally binding protocols on economic, social and cultural issues, and civil and political rights, make up the UN Bill of Human Rights.

Communist Cuba is one of the countries which has never signed up.

The news came as government supporters in Havana mobbed dissidents marking UN international human rights day.

When it signs up to the protocols early next year, Cuba will commit to allowing freedom of expression and association and the right to travel abroad, among other things.

'Important first step'

The Cuban foreign minister told a news conference: "This decision reflects our desire for full cooperation with the UN on the basis of respect for our national sovereignty and the right of the Cuban people to their self-determination."


But as he spoke, just a few streets from the foreign ministry a small group of opposition activists were mobbed and shouted down by government supporters, as they tried to hold a march.

Dissidents reported that police also picked up several key march organisers in the hours before the event, apparently in an attempt to prevent it taking place.

The treatment of the protesters, the BBC's Michael Voss reports from Havana, was a reminder that old approaches continue.

Western diplomats in Havana describe the foreign minister's announcement as an important first step, but are now awaiting to see whether and how it will be implemented, our correspondent adds.