By DPA
Havana : Cuba will “shortly” sign two UN human rights agreements, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said.
Perez Roque Monday further expressed the will of the communist island to cooperate more closely with the Human Rights Council of the UN.
The “political decision” to sign the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was taken, according to Perez Roque, following a “radical change” introduced by the new Human Rights Council.
The council – created in March 2006 and opposed by the US – decided in June to pull Cuba off its “black list” and remove the mandate of the special rapporteur on Cuba.
Perez Roque noted Havana will undergo in the first quarter of 2009 the universal periodic review of the council, as proof of the “spirit of cooperation and the (island’s) will to express its achievements, shortcomings and difficulties”.
Cuba plans to sign the UN covenants “within the next few months”, the minister said, marking the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
“(Cuba) will always have … a narrow cooperation with the UN system based on respect for our national sovereignty and the right to self-determination,” said Roque.