Human Rights: Arbitrary Arrests in Cuba on the Rise | The Impartial ...

Politically motivated arrests in Cuba at six-month high; military force in social conflicts condemned in Guatemala; Inter-American Court receives IVF arguments

Image from the Washington Post.

Arbitrary, politically motivated arrests on the rise in Cuba

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) announced on Tuesday that politically motivated arrests are on the rise. Arbitrary detainment reached a six-month high in September with more than 500 political dissidents taken into custody.

The Cuban government has increasingly implemented arbitrary arrests in its fight against political criticism. Dissidents are typically held in custody for one to two days and released without charge. Human Rights watchdogs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have denounced the practice.

The arrest of well-known dissident blogger Yoani S?nchez on Thursday calls attention to the situation. Sanchez, whose influential Generaci?n Y blog regularly appears in U.S. media outlets, was detained en route to Bayamo to cover the trial of Spanish activist ?ngel Carromero.

S?nchez was released from custody late Friday after thirty hours in detention. Her personal account of the detainment continues to spill out over the Internet.

The U.S. State Department on Friday expressed its ?deep concern??for Cuba?s repeated use of arbitrary detainment to silence its critics. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists and the Interamerican Society of the Press have also condemned Cuba?s actions.

UN investigates military clash with indigenous protestors in Guatemala

Representatives from the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights in Guatemala (OACNUDH) visited the sight of a deadly clash between indigenous peasants and police on Friday to investigate conflicting reports.

Indigenous demonstrators blocked portions of the Inter-American highway on Thursday, in the District of Totonicapan, to protest the rising price of electricity. The ensuing violence left eight protesters dead and more than forty injured.

President Otto P?rez Molina initially denied the military?s culpability in the violence, stating that soldiers were unarmed, but has since retracted his statements.

UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank LaRue, concluded Monday that the deaths were a direct result of military action. These ?unacceptable? events reveal a ?serious policy error? in the use of military force to resolve social conflict.

Thursday?s events mark the first military ?massacre? against indigenous groups since the Guatemalan Civil War, in which 95 per cent of all deaths were attributed to the actions of military forces.

Inter-American Court of Human Rights hears IVF case

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights received written arguments on Saturday in the in vitro fertilization case Gretal Artavia Murillo, et. al v. Costa Rica.

Costa Rica, often seen as ?one of Latin America?s most progressive nations? is the only country in the Americas that outlaws in vitro fertilization.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has ordered Costa Rica to lift its ban on the procedure. After extending the deadline for compliance twice, the Commission in August 2011 took the issue to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Over 75 ?pro-life? organizations in Latin America and Europe submitted briefs to the court, calling for the protection of ?the life of the human embryo?.

The American Convention on Human Rights protects the right to life ?from the moment of conception?. It also protects the rights to have one?s private and family life respected and the right to found a family.

The outcome of the case will have far-reaching jurisprudential repercussions throughout Latin America.

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Source: http://www.pulsamerica.co.uk/2012/10/10/human-rights-arbitrary-arrests-in-cuba-on-the-rise/

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