Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB)

Speaker: Claire Denman

Thank you Mr President,

CSW thanks the Special Rapporteur for her detailed report and vital work.

We would like to take this opportunity to emphasise the rapporteur’s assertion that ‘the right to freedom of religion or belief is not suspended for detained individuals’.

Instances of prisoners being denied access to religious materials and visits from religious leaders are deeply concerning.

In Cuba, political prisoners, in particular, like Walnier Luis Aguilar, a young man with learning disabilities, who was arrested following his participation in the pro-reform demonstrations of 11 July 2021, are regularly denied visits from a religious leader and have had religious literature, including Bibles, confiscated. Since their arrest in July 2011, brothers Nadir and Jorge Martin Perdomo have seen their religious rights, as defined in the Nelson Mandela Rules, systematically violated. Their mother, Marta Perdomo, a life-long Baptist Christian, who has made numerous requests to government officials to uphold their rights, has been threatened

CSW is particularly concerned for the wellbeing of Afro-Cuban religious leader Loreto Hernández García, who was detained amid the Cuban government’s crackdown on the 21 July 2021 peaceful protests.

Mr Hernández García has diabetes and hypertension but has been blocked from receiving critical medical treatment and repeatedly ridiculed by prison officials because of his religious beliefs and denied access to religious materials and religious visitations. He was not released as part of the mass amnesty of January 2025.

CSW calls on the government of Cuba to release Mr Hernández García and all other prisoners of conscience immediately and without condition.

We also urge the government to ensure that the fundamental rights of all prisoners on the island are respected, regardless of their alleged crimes or religion or belief.

Thank you.