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individuals and organizations can lodge complaints about any kind of
discrimination. For example, a case of anti-Semitic chants during a football match
led to the sanctioning of an Argentinian football club. Another case concerned the
rise in neo-Nazi incidents in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Province, where the
community has been the target of neo-Nazi and homophobic incidents over the past
year. A centre for receiving complaints and assisting victims of acts of xenophobia
and racism has been opened in Mar del Plata to address the rise in this type of
incident.
11. The Government drew attention to the fact that, while the spread of Nazism,
neo-Nazism and contemporary forms of racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance within civil society has slowed down at the national level, such
attitudes and ideologies are taken seriously by governmental institutions.
B.
Cuba
12. The Government of Cuba informed the Special Rapporteur that it considers it
vital to establish, at the national level, the political, legal, economic and social
foundations to successfully address all the aforementioned manifestations of
xenophobia and racism. In Cuba, constitutional recognition of the principle of
equality and the adoption of legislative measures designed to eliminate racial
discrimination and to uphold the prohibition of discrimination of all forms have
been given priority.
13. The Government stressed that, historically, xenophobia has not existed as a
social phenomenon in Cuba. The Government noted with concern that in many
regions and countries of the world, and particularly in countries of the industria lized
North, racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia continue to exist, including in
new and more sophisticated forms. Their persistence is reflected by the continuing
formation of associations and political parties with a racist agenda; the erection of
monuments and the organization of public demonstrations to glorify the Nazi past
and neo-Nazism; attempts to defile or destroy memorials to those who fought
against Nazism; the social exclusion and marginalization of peoples, ethnic groups,
minorities and other social groups and categories of individuals; the proliferation of
discriminatory migration policies and laws; and the adoption of anti -terrorism
legislation that offers considerable leeway for arbitrary action and the exercise of
public authority on a discriminatory, racist and xenophobic basis.
14. The Government highlighted that Cuba firmly believes that the persistence and
resurgence of neo-Nazism, neo-Fascism and other violent nationalist ideologies
based on racial and national prejudice should be condemned at the international
level and cannot be justified using manipulative and selective arguments related to
the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly and association and the right to
freedom of opinion and expression.
15. The Government reiterated its resolve to support efforts to ensure the full
implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the
adoption of new practical measures to eradicate contemporary forms of racism,
racial discrimination and intolerance.
16. The Government reported that Cuba has worked around the world to provide
services in the fields of health, education and sport in order to allow access to
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