Members of the Cubalex Legal Information Center
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2017-026-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2017
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 21.521757
Longitude: -77.781167
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Cuba
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 18 October 2016
- Type of record
- Named organization
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Type of rights defended
- Unclear in SG Report
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
Cooperation of advocates with the Human Rights Council, its special procedures and the universal periodic review mechanism
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Special Procedures: UN Special Procedures - General
- UN Human Rights Council: UPR
- Dates of engagement
- Unclear
- Type of attempted engagement
- Participation in meeting on UN premises
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- March to September 2016; 23 September 2016
- Reprisal information
According to the allegations, between March and August 2016, the civil society members were stopped and questioned at the airport travelling to, or arriving back from human rights related activities. They experienced targeted harassment by immigration agents, including extensive scrutiny of travel documents, confiscation of electronic resources and documents, and interrogation about their activities.
Additionally, on 23 September 2016, Cubalex Legal Information Center’s offices were raided by State authorities from four different judicial entities during a thirteen-hour operation in which the premises were searched, all electronic equipment was confiscated, and some of the staff members were subjected to body cavity searches and humiliating and degrading treatment
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Administrative reprisal
- Property damage/raid/search/confiscation
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Physical attack: Torture/Cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment
- Travel restriction
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Government response dates
- 14 December 2016
- Government response content
On 14 December 2016, the Government responded stating that the persons mentioned do not qualify as human rights defenders under the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on human rights defenders; Cubalex receives financial support from the United States of America and carries out anti-Cuban activities; and the persons in question did not avail themselves of any existing complaint mechanisms in the country about the events described.
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 0