Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

Camilo Ganga – pseudonym of a journalist living in Havana – reported that independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation [CCDHRN] recorded 5,301 politically-motivated arrests in [the first 11 months of] 2013 in Cuba. A slight fall on 2012 !!!  One reason why the number of detentions runs into the thousands is the authorities’ tactic of using repeated short-term internment as well as longer jail terms to harass dissidents, human rights defenders and independent journalists. The government detains human rights defenders when they hold demonstrations or mark some significant anniversary of which it does not approve, as well as independent journalists who document human rights violations. It responds similarly to verbal or written criticism. …Among the 120 or so civil society groups whose members feature in CCDHRN’s monthly reports, Damas de Blanco Ladies in White, the Committee for Assisting Political Prisoners and Families, the Hard Line and Boycott Front, and the Opposition Movement for New Republic were prominent. Others included the Patriotic Union of Cuba, based in Santiago de Cuba, the Central Opposition Coalition and the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights in Cienfuegos, the Democratic Alliance of Pinar del Río, the Pro-Human Rights Party also in Pinar del Río, and the November 30 Party in Ciego de Ávila.

via Cuban Political Arrests Top 5,000 – Institute for War and Peace Reporting – P57606.

This entry was posted on January 9, 2014 at 17:32 and is filed under human rights, Human Rights Defenders.

Tags: arbitrary arrest, arrest, Camilo Ganga, Cuba, Cuban Commission for Human Rights, Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, dissidents, freedom of demonstration, freedom of expression, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, independent journalists, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, journalists, Ladies in White, Santiago de Cuba