The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) published this Tuesday a new report which denounces Cuban medical missions as “trafficking in persons”. The document asserts that this “widely praised” program is based “on the exploitation of health professionals and serves as a major international propaganda tool and major source of revenue for the repressive communist regime.”
In its analysis, HRF recalls the history of Cuba’s medical missions, which date back to the 1960s and have been sent to more than 150 countries, and details the main mechanisms used by the regime to exploit its health workers while sold to the world as “medical diplomacy” and “humanitarian aid”.
The document also affects how these missions have financed “billions of dollars” to the Government, which has the export of medical services as its main source of income, ahead of receiving remittances and tourism.
The New York-based NGO thus concludes what other international organizations have already widely denounced, such as Human Rights Watch either Prisoners Defenders: that the Cuban Government “has imposed coercive and retaliatory practices on health professionals to prevent desertion, applied in a way that violates international law that protects victims of human trafficking.”
Global democracies should implement sanctions against the communist regime for the trafficking of Cuban doctors,” says the HRF
“The combination of international support and financial exploitation has freed the Cuban government from the general condemnation of the international community and from the adoption of structural reforms to put an end to human trafficking,” argues HRF, which presents four petitions to end this practice .
The main one, that the host countries stop contracting these medical missions unless the Cuban government eliminates the eight-year ban on returning to their country for the health workers. deserters, pay them their salaries in full and allow health professionals to establish employment contracts with the host country without intermediaries.
The Foundation also suggests to the international community that Cuba be removed from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and that a “transparent and independent” investigation be launched into the responsibility of PAHO in the trafficking of Cuban doctors in Brazil (a through the More Doctors program).
“Global democracies should implement sanctions against the communist regime for the trafficking of Cuban doctors,” says the HRF, which finally asks the UN, through its human rights agencies, organizations and programs, to prohibit “the financing of Cuba’s medical missions” and issue a “public sanction” of the regime for violating binding treaties on human trafficking.
It is precisely because of the medical missions that the US keeps Cuba on the list of countries that fail to comply with international standards regarding human trafficking.
Despite the convictions and all the information collected by international organizations, however, there are countries outside these complaints. Thus, the regional government of Calabria, in Italy, signed an agreement with the Medical Services Marketer, just last week, to import 497 Cuban doctors for 28 million euros a year.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
