WHEREAS, the State uses continuous repression methods against journalists for prolonged periods of time, telephone and public surveillance, short-term arrests, bans on leaving the country, the city and the home, violence by agents of the Ministry of the Interior against detainees; threats to the health and school or work stability of children, mothers and spouses; police summons; harassment by State employees other than police; filming and photographing on the street by unknown persons; unwarranted searches at airports and anonymous calls.
WHEREAS, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, signed and ratified by the Cuban State, provides in Article 1, that the term "torture" shall mean "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for the purpose of obtaining - from that person or a third person, information or a confession, of punishing that person for an act committed or suspected of having committed, or to intimidate or coerce that person or others, for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity".
WHEREAS, that the State sets Internet connection prices impossibly expensive for the majority; it controls the education system, radio and television broadcasting, internet concession, printing presses, and other resources indispensable to the exercise of freedom of the press
WHEREAS Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes "No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people."
THE SIP MID-YEAR MEETING RESOLVES TO
Ask the government to eliminate or modify the Constitution and other laws and all mechanisms that limit the exercise of the freedoms of the press, information, expression and association.
Request the international organizations and agencies of the United Nations with which the Cuban State has agreements or commitments - especially to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to visit the country to verify the condition of the aforementioned freedoms.
