|
U.S.
Department of State. Released by
the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. March 31,
2003
(6
of 6)
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Disability,
Language, or Social Status
The country is a multiracial society with a black and mixed-race
majority. The Constitution forbids discrimination based on
race, sex, or national origin; however, evidence suggested
that racial discrimination occurred frequently.
Women
Violent crime rarely was reported in the press, and there
was no publicly available data regarding the incidence of
domestic violence and rape; however, human rights advocates
reported that violence against women was a problem. The law
establishes strict penalties for rape, and the Government
enforced the law; however, according to human rights advocates,
the police did not act on cases of domestic violence.
The 2000 report of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence
Against Women stated that most government officials did not
view violence against women as prevalent; however, activists
at the grassroots level were attuned to problems of violence
affecting women. The Rapporteur urged the Government to take
comprehensive steps to enhance the legal protection against
violence against women and urged the adoption of legislation
to address domestic violence and sexual harassment.
Prostitution is legal for persons over 17 years of age; however,
pandering or otherwise benefiting from prostitution is a felony.
Prostitution increased greatly in recent years. Press reports
indicated that tourists from various countries visited specifically
to patronize inexpensive prostitutes. A government crackdown
on prostitution that began in late 1998 initially had some
effect, but prostitutes (known as "jineteras") still
were visible in Havana and other major cities during the year.
Police obtained early success in their efforts by stationing
officers on nearly every major street corner where tourists
were present. Some street police officers were suspected of
providing protection to the jineteras. Most observers believed
that the Government clamped down on prostitution to combat
the perception that the Government promoted sex tourism. The
Government set up centers to take prostitutes off the streets
and reeducate them. The U.N. Special Rapporteur's report recommended
that the Government dismantle the centers and find "other
mechanisms that do not violate the rights of the prostitutes."
There was no information available regarding whether or not
the Government dismantled these centers.
The Family Code states that women and men have equal rights
and responsibilities regarding marriage, divorce, raising
children, maintaining the home, and pursuing a career. Women
were subject to the same restrictions on property ownership
as men. The law provides up to 1 year of maternity leave and
grants working mothers preferential access to goods and services.
Approximately 40 percent of all women worked, and they were
well represented in many professions. According to the Cuban
Women's Federation (FMC), in 2000 women held 33 percent of
managerial positions. The FMC also asserted that 11,200 women
had received land parcels to cultivate, that more than 561,000
women had begun working as agricultural workers, and that
women devoted 34 hours a week to domestic work, approximately
the same number of hours they spent working outside the home.
Children
The Constitution provides that the Government protect family,
maternity, and matrimony. It also states that children, legitimate
or not, have the same rights under the law and notes the duties
of parents to protect them. The law requires school attendance
until the ninth grade, and this law generally was respected
in practice. Education was free, but it was grounded in Marxist
ideology. State organizations and schools were charged with
the integral formation of children and youth. The national
health care system covered all citizens.
There was no societal pattern of abuse of children. Police
officers who found children loitering in the streets or begging
from tourists frequently intervened and tried to find the
parents. If the child was found bothering tourists a second
time, police frequently fined the child's parents. Child prostitution
was a problem (see Section 6.f.).
Persons with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination based on disability, and
there were few complaints of such discrimination.
On March 18, state security officials arrested four leaders
of the Brotherhood of Blind Cubans to prevent a demonstration
that opposed police mistreatment of handicapped street vendors
and that called for the release of blind dissident Juan Carlos
Gonzalez Leyva (see Sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
In April the government-affiliated National Association of
the Blind expelled Tomas Arquimedes Quintana for violating
the norms of the organization by "acting in contradiction
to the goals of a socialist state." Quintana is a member
of the Cuban Human Rights Foundation and of the Independent
Brotherhood of the Blind.
There are no laws that mandate accessibility to buildings
for persons with disabilities. In practice buildings and transportation
rarely were accessible to persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Many persons of African descent have benefited from access
to basic education and medical care since the 1959 revolution,
and much of the police force and army enlisted personnel is
black. Nevertheless, racial discrimination often occurred
and was acknowledged publicly by high governmental officials,
including President Castro during remarks at the World Conference
on Racism in South Africa. President Castro acknowledged that
the revolution had not eradicated racism. There were numerous
reports of disproportionate police harassment of black youths.
Evictions, exacerbated by Decree 217, primarily targeted individuals
and families who migrated to Havana from the eastern provinces,
which were traditionally areas of black or mixed-race populations
(see Section 2.d.).
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Constitution gives priority to state or collective needs
over individual choices regarding free association or provision
of employment. The demands of the economy and society took
precedence over individual workers' preferences. Established
official labor organizations had a mobilization function and
did not act as trade unions, promote worker rights, or protect
the right to strike. Such organizations were under the control
of the State and the Communist Party, which also managed the
enterprises for which the laborers worked. Because all legal
unions were government entities, antiunion discrimination
by definition did not exist.
The Communist Party selects the leaders of the sole legal
labor confederation, the Confederation of Cuban Workers, whose
principal responsibility is to ensure that government production
goals are met. Despite disclaimers in international forums,
the Government explicitly prohibited independent unions, and
none were recognized. There has been no change in conditions
since the 1992 International Labor Organization (ILO) finding
that the Government violated ILO norms on the freedom of association
and the right to organize. Those who attempted to engage in
unofficial union activities faced government harassment.
Workers may lose--and many have lost--their jobs for their
political beliefs, including their refusal to join the official
union. Several small independent labor organizations were
created but functioned without legal recognition and were
unable to represent workers effectively or work on their behalf.
On January 3, police arrested Milagros Zeneida Morales of
the Independent Workers Labor Union on charges of recruiting
members for a counterrevolutionary organization (see Section
1.d.).
In late March, police instructed Lidia Rodriguez to report
on any telephone calls made by independent labor organizers
Luis Sergio Nunez and Gabriel Sanchez of the Independent National
Labor Organization (see Section 1.f.).
On June 27, a state security official informed labor activist
Reinaldo Rodriguez Camejo that he would soon lose his job
as a teacher at a technical institute. In late July, the institute
cancelled his 2-year contract and informed him that he would
not be rehired.
On July 1, state security officials ordered independent labor
organizer Leodegario Jimenez Ojeda, president of the Independent
Medical School in Santiago and a member of the Independent
National Labor Confederation, to their office, where they
interrogated him and accused him of participating in counterrevolutionary
activities and having links to "terrorists" in Miami.
In July the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association cited
several instances of government persecution of members of
the Single Council of Cuban Workers and called on the Government
to allow formation of independent trade unions.
The CTC is a member of the Communist World Federation of
Trade Unions.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Collective bargaining does not exist. The State Committee
for Work and Social Security (CETSS) sets wages and salaries
for the state sector, which is almost the only employer in
the country. The law prohibits strikes; none were known to
have occurred. The 1995 Foreign Investment Law denies workers
the right to contract directly with foreign companies investing
in the country without special government permission. Although
a few firms managed to negotiate exceptions, the Government
required foreign investors to contract workers through state
employment agencies, which were paid in foreign currency and,
in turn, paid workers very low wages in pesos. Typically workers
received 5 percent of the salary paid by the companies to
the State. Workers subcontracted by state employment agencies
must meet certain political qualifications. According to Minister
of Basic Industry Marcos Portal, the state employment agencies
consulted with the Party, the CTC, and the Union of Communist
Youth to ensure that the workers chosen "deserved"
to work in a joint enterprise.
There were no functioning export processing zones, although
the law authorizes the establishment of free trade zones and
industrial parks.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Bonded Labor
Neither the Constitution nor the Labor Code prohibits forced
or bonded labor. The Government maintained correctional centers
where it sent persons for crimes such as dangerousness. Prisoners
held there were forced to work on farms or building sites;
for example, doing construction, agricultural work, or metal
working. The authorities often imprisoned internees who did
not cooperate.
The Government employed special groups of workers, known
as "microbrigades," who were reassigned temporarily
from their usual jobs to work on special building projects.
These microbrigades were increasingly important in the Government's
efforts to complete tourist and other priority projects. Workers
who refused to volunteer for these jobs often risked discrimination
or job loss. Microbrigade workers reportedly received priority
consideration for housing assignments. The military assigned
some conscripts to the Youth Labor Army, where they served
a 2-year military service requirement working on farms that
supplied both the armed forces and the civilian population.
The Government prohibits forced and bonded labor by children;
however, the Government required children to work without
compensation. All students over age 11 were expected to devote
30 to 45 days of their summer vacation to farm work, laboring
up to 8 hours per day. The Ministry of Agriculture used "voluntary
labor" by student work brigades extensively in the farming
sector. According to school rules, refusal to do agricultural
work could affect the student's ability to continue studying
at the institution.
d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment
The legal minimum working age is 17 years. However, the Labor
Code permits the employment of 15- and 16-year-old children
to obtain training or to fill labor shortages.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The CETSS sets the minimum wage, which varies by occupation.
For example, the minimum monthly wage for a maid was $6.60
(165 pesos); for a bilingual office clerk, $7.60 (190 pesos);
and for a gardener $8.65 (216 pesos). The Government supplemented
the minimum wage with free education, subsidized medical care
(daily pay is reduced by 40 percent after the third day of
being admitted to a hospital), housing, and some food (this
subsidized food is enough for about 1 week per month). However,
even with these subsidies, the minimum wage did not provide
a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Corruption
and black market activities were pervasive. The Government
rationed most basic necessities such as food, medicine, clothing,
and cooking gas, which were in very short supply.
The Government required foreign companies in joint ventures
with state entities to hire and pay workers through the State
(see Section 6.b.). Human Rights Watch noted that the required
reliance on state-controlled employment agencies effectively
left workers without any capacity directly to negotiate wages,
benefits, the basis of promotions, or the length of the workers'
trial period at the job with the employer. Foreign companies
paid the Government as much as $500 to $600 per worker per
month while the workers received only a small fraction of
that in pesos from the Government.
The standard workweek was 44 hours, with shorter workweeks
in hazardous occupations, such as mining. The Government reduced
the workday in some government offices and state enterprises
to save energy.
Workplace environmental and safety controls usually were
inadequate, and the Government lacked effective enforcement
mechanisms. Industrial accidents apparently were frequent,
but the Government suppressed such reports. The Labor Code
establishes that a worker who considers his life in danger
because of hazardous conditions has the right not to work
in his position or not to engage in specific activities until
such risks are eliminated. According to the Labor Code, the
worker remains obligated to work temporarily in whatever other
position may be assigned him at a salary provided for under
the law.
f. Trafficking in Persons
The Penal Code prohibits trafficking in persons through or
from the country and provides for penalties for violations,
including a term of 7 to 15 years' imprisonment for organizing
or cooperating in alien smuggling through the country; 10
to 20 years' imprisonment for entering the country to smuggle
persons out of the country; and 20 years to life in prison
for using violence, causing harm or death, or putting lives
in danger in engaging in such smuggling. These provisions
were directed primarily at persons engaging in organized smuggling
of would-be emigrants. In addition, the revised code made
it illegal to promote or organize the entrance of persons
into or the exit of persons from the country for the purpose
of prostitution; violators were subject to 20 to 30 years'
imprisonment.
Child prostitution was a problem, with young girls engaging
in prostitution to help support themselves and their families.
It is illegal for a person under 17 years of age to engage
in prostitution. The police enforced this law during the year
as part of a general crackdown on prostitution; however, the
phenomenon continued as more cabarets and discos opened for
the growing tourist industry, which made it easier for tourists
to come into contact with child prostitutes.
Back
to the beginning
|
