Havana, Dec 10 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez Roque announced on Monday that Cuba will soon sign the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

   "This is the political decision adopted by Cuba and we announce it today December 10, Human Rights Day, because today marks 59 years since the UN General Assembly proclaimed International Human Rights Day," noted Perez Roque.

    Addressing the press at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Perez Roque said that rights included in both covenants, which are the most important international tools of human rights, are largely protected by the Cuban legal system, and chiefly by the Cuban Revolution since its triumph in January 1959.

   The foreign minister predicted that this decision, which will be brought to fruition in the first three months of 2008, is an expression that Cuba always closely cooperates with the United Nations system, based on the respect to Cuba's national sovereignty and the right of its people to self determination.

   He confirmed that while US manipulations of human rights issues persisted, as well as its attempts to use that issue to justify the blockade and aggression against Cuba, there were no minimum conditions to assess new commitments with the UN system.

   However, Perez Roque noted, that situation has radically changed with the creation of the new Human Rights Council, of which Cuba was a founding member with over a two-thirds vote of the international community.

Prensa Latina 10-12-2007