The Cuban ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Juan Antonio Quintanilla, rejected at the Human Rights Council the bias and the use of unconfirmed sources in the mechanisms and special procedures to address the topic.
 
In the continuation of the activitities of the 51st Sesion of the Council, the diplomat intervened in an interactive dialogue with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in which he insisted on the need for objective action and without preconceived results.
 
‘It is very important that the Working Group does not adopt its views on cases in a preconceived manner, as well as take into account the responses of States.
 
The lack of objectivity, biases, and little or no verification of the veracity of the sources continues to be a problem,’ he stressed.
 
Quintanilla affirmed at the forum in this Swiss city that Cuba maintains a high level of response to requests for information from this mechanism.
 
On specific occasions we have required additional time to request from the corresponding authorities information about certain persons who have been of interest to the group, he said.
 
The island’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva reiterated the rejection of the use of the special procedures for purposes other than the defense of human rights.