E/CN.4/1998/79
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curbing all forms of discrimination is not only embodied in the Constitution
but also reinforced by a broad range of supplementary legislation, and by
systematic measures to promote equality of opportunity ensuring the effective
enjoyment of the rights and guarantees proclaimed in that legislation.
87.
“At the present time there remain in Cuba only a few isolated cases of
racial prejudice which are manifested only in private family circles, and
usually in relations between engaged couples or spouses and whose deep-rooted
causes are of a historical and sociocultural nature, since the 37 years during
which the policy to curb discrimination has been implemented are not enough to
efface all secular stereotypes and the structure and interaction of the family
do not change as rapidly as the legal and political measures adopted by the
State. Nevertheless, these prejudices are not based on assumptions
characteristic of racism as an ideology in other contexts, namely, the idea
that there are innate differences between biological types.” This
communication adds that “the other ethnic groups present in Cuba in the form
of small communities or families account for less than 1 per cent of the
population”.
88.
This year the Cuban Government organized a national programme including
numerous sociocultural events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the
arrival of the first Chinese in Cuba.
89.
The Government has also reinstated human rights education: “As regards
education as a means of preventing racism, civic education has been reinstated
as a subject in the general education system starting from the academic year
1988-1989, and has continued to be improved; classes deal with human rights
issues, especially the thrust of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Cuban history classes have also been reviewed, and the curriculum now includes
teaching on the origins and ethno-racial interactions that led to the
formation of the Cuban people and present-day Cuban nationhood ...”.
Special Rapporteur's observations
90.
The Special Rapporteur is glad of this highly informative news and
welcomes the Cuban Government's endeavours in human rights education. He
hopes to receive documentation on the situation and on current legislation
pending an invitation from the Government to visit the country.
(g)
Paraguay
91.
By communication dated 28 July 1997, the Government of Paraguay informed
the Special Rapporteur that “not a single case of anti-Semitism, racial
discrimination or racism affirming the superiority or privilege of one's own
race by disdain for and persecution of others [was] to be found in Paraguay,
particularly in reference to a numerically large minority or a minority with
economic influence”. There was, on the other hand, “a certain indifference as of a spectator rather than participant”. The communication went on to
state that the Chamber of Deputies had “by a large majority approved two draft
statements rejecting and condemning the ill-treatment inflicted by Argentine
gendarmes on Paraguayans and a xenophobic bill on migration currently before
the Chamber of Deputies in the Argentine Congress”. It also mentioned