(CSW U.K. Staff).
A group of approximately 60 religious groups has made a public call to the Cuban government to take concrete steps to improve its record on human rights, including reforms that will protect freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). The Alliance of Christians of Cuba (ACC), an independent network of religious leaders created in 2022, published the statement following their second annual general meeting on 26 June 2024 in the city of Las Tunas. In the statement, the group condemns the Cuban government’s ongoing violations of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and calls for a new legal framework that will allow religious groups to register, noting that this will make it possible for legal action to be taken when FoRB violations occur. The group goes on to demand the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience and urges the government to immediately halt ‘pre-criminal’ legal proceedings, which are used to try individuals suspected of the potential to commit crimes in the future, including political ‘crimes’. Since 1 January 2024 CSW has documented 20 cases across eight provinces of religious leaders, including those of Christian and Afro-Cuban religious groups, being subjected to harassment, threats and fines because of their lack of legal recognition. In some cases, a registered religious association worshipping in an unregistered location was affected. In others, a religious leader was targeted because of the unregistered status of both the religious group and the location.