By Nelson Acosta

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights Alena Douhan speaks during a press conference in Havana, Cuba, November 21, 2025. REUTERS/Norlys Perez Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

HAVANA, Nov 21 (Reuters) – A United Nations human rights expert on Friday urged the United States to lift sanctions imposed on Cuba, citing the impact of long-standing trade and financial restrictions on everything from the island’s educational system to food security and healthcare.

Alena Douhan, a UN Special Rapporteur on human rights, said U.S. sanctions against Cuba “do not conform to a broad number of international legal norms.”

The so-called trade embargo, or blockade, she said, “have been substantially exacerbating the humanitarian situation in Cuba… and have been designed to prevent Cuba from receiving any economic revenue, especially in hard currency.”

Douhan’s comments in Havana on Friday echoed those of a majority of member nations of the United Nations, which last month overwhelmingly called for an end to a U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.

The United Nations vote carries global political weight, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the Cold War-era embargo.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the sanctions were not to blame for Cuba’s problems, and that the communist-run government had brought its economic woes upon itself.

“The embargo does not prohibit Cuba’s access to world markets or trade with third countries. U.S. law explicitly allows the export of food, medicine, and medical equipment to Cuba,” the spokesperson said.

Douhan, who has been visiting the island since last week, told reporters she had met with a cross-section of Cuba’s public and private sectors to assess the embargo’s impacts.

Her visit coincides with an acute economic crisis that has drained public coffers, devastated tourism and led to severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine that have sparked a record-breaking exodus from the island.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has intensified sanctions against its longtime foe, returning Cuba to a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, tightening rules on remittances, and shutting off Biden-era migration programs.

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