China and Cuba : Enforced disappearance

Enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention in the Peoples Republic of China and Republic of Cuba

1. CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide) is a human rights organisation specialising in freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all.

2. This submission seeks to draw the Council’s attention to the prevalence of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention in the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Cuba.

3. Under President Xi increasing human rights abuses in China are accompanied by and manifested through a shrinking space for civil society, a heightened sensitivity to perceived challenges to Party rule, and the introduction of legislation that curtails civil and political rights in the name of national security.

4. Similarly, in Cuba, the realisation of human rights is limited through Article 62 of the constitution, which gives explicit legal privilege to the objectives of the Cuban socialist State, over and above the protection of fundamental human rights for all Cuban citizens.

5. Within such contexts, where human rights are conditional upon their alignment with the ideological aims of the government, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance are tactics frequently used to harass and control civil society.

Read the enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention in the Peoples Republic of China and Republic of Cuba statement to the 39th UN Human Rights Council in full.