Cuba rejects U.S. accusations on human trafficking

The Cuban government said Tuesday the U.S. State Department's report on human trafficking was "false and disrespectful" and rejected the "unlikely inclusion of Cuba in the worst of their categories."

"These shameful slander deeply offended the Cuban people," said the statement signed by Josefina Vidal, director of the North America Department of the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

Washington presented on Monday the "Human Trafficking Report 2010," which said Cuba did not meet the minimum standards to combat human trafficking, adding that the island country was "primarily a source of children subjected to trafficking, especially for commercial sexual exploitation within the country."

Vidal stressed "in Cuba there is no sexual trafficking of minors, but an outstanding performance on the protection of children, youth and women."

"Cuba does not qualify as country of origin, transit, or destination of this scourge. The legislation and measures taken in this area places us among the countries of the region with the most advanced standards and mechanisms to prevent and combat the human trafficking," the official said.

She noted the report could only be understood as the "desperate" need for the U.S. government "to justify, under any pretext, the persistence of its cruel policy of blockade, overwhelmingly rejected by the international community."

In April, Jose Juan Ortiz, representative in Havana of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said very few countries had the same achievements of Cuba to guarantee the medical coverage and education to all children.

Ortiz acknowledged how the Cuban government provided free access of children to schools and recreation, without racial or gender discrimination. He said the nation served an example of respect for the rights of children and adolescents.

Source: Xinhua