UN human rights experts condemned the recent US measures against Cuba on Thursday, calling them an attempt to alter the constitutional order of a sovereign state through threats and coercion, and urged the international community and civil society to act quickly to prevent a "silent Gaza " from being unleashed on the island, as four members of the US Congress warned after visiting Cuba.
The unilateral US sanctions, which have been extended since June 2026 to affect key sectors of the Cuban economy, have included energy companies since July 23, further blocking the acquisition of fuel, even for humanitarian reasons , at a time when the island is suffering from an acute fuel shortage and has recently experienced its third major national blackout.
"The humanitarian consequences are already turning into a full-blown crisis that threatens the rights to health, life, food and development," several human rights rapporteurs** denounced, after learning that uncollected garbage is piling up in parts of Havana, which aggravates the risk of the spread of diseases.
Energy sanctions worsen the collapse of basic services
Experts noted that the energy sector, transportation, irrigation, and basic services are failing simultaneously, disproportionately affecting women, children, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups , including farmers in the rural economy.
UN agencies in Cuba have warned of growing risks of food insecurity and shortages of medicines and basic necessities , with repeated collapses of the national power grid and prolonged blackouts disrupting health services and causing a critical shortage of medicines and cancer treatment capacity.
" Food should never be used as a tool of political pressure . Measures that deliberately deprive a population of the means to survive violate the most basic guarantees of the right to life and undermine the core of human dignity," the experts stated.
The US describes Cuba as a "threat" without evidence
On July 20, the U.S. State Department released a report titled "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism," which describes Cuba as a multifaceted threat to U.S. national security and hemispheric stability, although experts deplore that it lacks concrete evidence that Cuba supports terrorism or subversive activities.
Experts stressed that the illegal unilateral coercive measures by the U.S. against Cuba contravene Article 2 of the UN Charter and are part of a broader regime change strategy that includes the decades-long embargo against the island.
"The United States government must cease all threats and hostile acts against the sovereignty of Cuba and revoke all measures it has imposed on the country that are contrary to international law," the experts stated.
" The Security Council and the General Assembly should urgently address these threats as a matter of international peace and security ," they added.
*Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, and Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council . Collectively, these experts are referred to as the “Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council .” Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff members and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) acts as the secretariat for the Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent of any government or organization, including the OHCHR and the UN. The opinions or views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or the OHCHR.
**The experts who signed the statement are:
Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the right to development