Women’s rights are human rights

MIAMI:- Hillary Rodham Clintonthen First Lady of the United States, made these words famous when she spoke them on September 5, 1995 in her speech to the plenary session of the 4th United Nations Conference on Women, held in Beijing. “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights,” she pronounced.

The Declaration of Human Rights of the UN clearly spells out what everyone’s rights are. Here I approach this issue from the feminist perspective that I share with Clinton:

• the right to liberty, life and personal security (Art.3);
• the right not to be subject to human trafficking (Art.4);
• the right not to be tortured, degraded or cruelly punished (Art.5);
• the right not to be arbitrarily detained or arrested, nor to be exiled (Art.9)
• the right to a public and impartial hearing and a fair and transparent trial (Art.10);
• the right, once informed of a real crime and not invented or non-existent, to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a trial that provides all the necessary guarantees (Art.11);
• the right to personal and family privacy, residence and correspondence (Art.12);
• the right to freedom of movement and residence, and to leave and re-enter one’s country (Art.13);
• the right to one’s nationality and not have it arbitrarily denied (Art.15);
• the right to his personal property and not to be deprived of it (Art.17);
• the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and to publicly express their ideas in the education, practice, worship and observation of their beliefs (Art.18);
• the right to freedom of opinion and expression without any interference, which includes the right to receive and impart your ideas in any media regardless of borders (Art.19);
• the right to free assembly and association (Art.20);
• the right to free and genuine elections (Art.21);
• the right to work and a salary that guarantees a dignified existence for the person and their family (Art.23);
• the right to an adequate standard of living that guarantees health and well-being with respect to food, clothing, housing and health (Art.25);
• the right to education, and the priority right to determine the type of education their children will receive (Art.26);
• the right to the protection of rights and against aggression or destruction thereof by a group or person, or by the State itself (Art.30).

The institutional violence of the State against women It is a flagrant violation of human rights. It is the duty of the State to protect its citizens from all types of violence. In Cuba, the State practices violence against all its citizens, and women are no exception. In its practice of censorship, oppression, surveillance and punishment against, specifically, its detractors, opponents and peaceful dissidents and its independent creators, the Cuban State systematically violates articles 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26 and 30 of the Universal Declaration, of which Cuba was the manager in 1948 and a signatory – although late – in 2007.

In March 1980, Cuba also signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Article 3 requires the State to take all appropriate measures, including laws, that guarantee the full participation and development of women in political, social, economic and cultural matters, and the exercise and enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, without discrimination for any reason.

CEDAW also requires signatory States to guarantee that women can participate in non-governmental organizations and other independent associations concerning the public and political life of the nation (Art.7.c).

In this review, the Cuban State suspends the subject. By generally not respecting the human rights of its people, Cuba also does not respect the rights of women. The list of violations is kilometer-long: evictions and endless housing deficits, unsanitary shelters, collapses and deaths; rationing and shortages of basic foods, for decades; salaries and pensions that are not enough for even one week of the month; shortage of medicines; prison for educating children at home, following the legitimate dictates of faith; violation of residence, correspondence, and communications; confiscation of private property such as cell phones and computers; repression for practicing art, journalism or small businesses independently; constant arbitrary arrests; summary trials and unjustified sentences; improper contracting of professional services to foreign countries in what has been called “modern slavery””.

The most recent human rights violations against Cuban women occurred on January 28. TO Berta Solerleader of the Ladies in White, was arrested on the day of José Martí’s birth, when she was heading to the residence of the US charge d’affaires in Cuba, Mike Hammer, to attend a celebration of the national day. TO Yoani Sanchez and her husband, the independent journalist Reinaldo Escobar, both 14 and a half years old, were also detained for the same reasons. Shortly after, they were taken to their house and ordered not to leave it for the rest of the day. Almost a house arrest.

This February 3rd marked another anniversary of women’s suffrage in Cuba (1934). Let us resurrect the spirit of the Cuban suffragettes who fought against the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado, and then against that of Fulgencio Batista.

ENOUGH NOW! Away with the Cuban military machangato! Down with repressive tyranny! Return sovereignty and rights to the people of Cuba. Go away! You no longer have anything to do there.