In a crucial vote this week, the Organization of American States could decide whether to lift Cuba's almost 50-year suspension from the key regional body. Such a move would be bad for civil society in Cuba and bad for the OAS.

The Organization of American States should not lift the suspension of Cuba as a participating full member until it ends its systematic denial of fundamental freedoms for Cubans.

Serious human rights violations in Azerbaijan, China, Cuba, Russia, and Saudi Arabia undermine their candidacies for the May 12, 2009 election to the United Nations Human Rights Council, a global coalition of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) said in a letter released today.

Heads of state gathered at the Summit of the Americas should work together to create a new, unified approach to Cuba that will be more effective toward dismantling Cuba's repressive machinery, Human Rights Watch said today.

President Barack Obama's order ending restrictions on Cuban-Americans' travel and remittances to Cuba is a major break from an ineffective and unjust policy, but the US government should take further steps to adopt a new approach toward Cuba.

Human Rights Watch fully supports the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, which would end a decades-old travel ban that violates international human rights law, has caused considerable suffering for families, and has failed completely to bring change to Cuba.

The Cuban government should immediately and unconditionally free the dissidents who have been arbitrarily detained in days leading up to International Human Rights Day.