Jamaican Researcher

Cuba: A Contemporary Model for Human Rights and People-Centred Development

Havana, Cuba

The Cuban Revolution has stirred many emotions and opinions from various people and different parts of the world. For me, a Jamaican who grew up in the later stages of the Cold War, the word Cuba was sure to cause stir in any fora–you would be sure to hear the Cuban leadership being chided for the denial of the rights of people to own personal assets like modern cars and posh homes.

When we dare to examine Cuba’s human rights track record in economic and social rights however, it leaves us wondering if our leaders are sleeping. In my line of work modeling and best practices are critical for sustainable development. If we fail to learn from the experiences of others we will continuously make the same mistakes. This article seeks to highlight some human rights achievements of Cuba, which Jamaica must model if we as a society and Government are serious about poverty reduction, the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and ensuring for all equality and equity.

Extract from The Sunday Gleaner (11/01/09): In Focus “CASTRO absolved by history…almost” by Robert Buddan:

1. The Cuban Revolution recognized at the outset that people had a right to development. The Revolution had pioneered this application of human rights as inclusive of social and economic rights. World history caught up with the idea 30 year later in the form of the UN resolution in 1986.
2. The UN aimed to eliminate extreme poverty by 2015, an objective Cuba had also set for itself and had achieved long before.
3. Cuba is the only country that has put the right to work, food, shelter, education, and health in its constitution and satisfied those rights.
4. Cuban democracy is a disciplined democracy, which is why crime and idleness are virtually absent…while the Caribbean has the highest murder rate in the world Cuba has the lowest.
5. Cuba has the capacity to mobilise hundreds of thousands of people at short notice in energy conservation, food production, hurricane evacuation and national defence.
6. Cuba’s urban farming initiative has recovered by 97 percent in only a few months after three devastating hurricanes in 2008. Cuba has set a new record in tourist arrivals despite those hurricanes because the country was able to repair hotels quickly and tourists had a great sense of safety.
7. It was recently announced that foreign travel by government officials will be cut by 50 percent, which will save US$60 million.
8. Cuba evacuated 2.6 million persons (the population of Jamaica) in one case and found shelter for all of them. Hurricane-related deaths are rare in Cuba. Few countries, if any, have the capacity to mobilise on this scale or emergency governance.
9. Despite its crisis, Cuba’s economy grew by 4.6 percent in 2008 while other economies were flat.
10. The UN has done well to launch the MDG, but in the last eight years, no country has made such a difference in the lives of poor people of other countries than Cuba has.
11. There are 108 foreign missions accredited in Havana, making Havana the diplomatic city of the Caribbean.
12. Cuba has 51, 000 volunteers in 96 countries, making Cuba’s people-based diplomacy  difficult for any other country to match.
13. Cuban doctors have restored the sight of over one million people in Latin America and the Caribbean, an achievement that goes well beyond anything that the UN or the developed countries have achieved in the developing world.
14. Cuba has more doctors per capita than any other country in the world.
15. Cuba has the highest number of teachers per capita  in the world.
16. Illiteracy is 0.2 percent in Cuba.
17. Child mortality is the best among developing countries and better than that for many developed countries.
18. Life expectancy is 78 years, at the level of developed countries.

Nothing in life is perfect, neither is Cuba, but I am sure you will agree, based on the records that Buddan discusses–Cuba is a contemporary model for state-led prioritisation and respect for human rights and people-centered development. Jamaicans love to look across the sea to Singapore when they are talking about development modeling, but I believe more fertile soil lay 90 miles away in a society that is extremely similar to ours in its history, population, cultural retentions and practices, geography, location, and size.