UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned Monday that the expansion of US sanctions against Cuba is causing widespread harm to the population and endangering lives, calling for the sanctions to be lifted immediately.
Türk’s statement identified two overlapping measures: the national emergency declared by President Trump in January, which disrupted fuel shipments to Cuba, and sector-wide sanctions imposed in May with extraterritorial reach to traders, insurers, shipping companies, and financial institutions. Together, the measures have reduced Cuba’s fuel reserves so severely that daily blackouts now frequently exceed 20 hours.
“The fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and recent tightening of extraterritorial sanctions, taken together, are directly harming Cubans, especially the most vulnerable. Children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines,” Türk said. “This is unacceptable. These sanctions must be lifted immediately.”
The statement cited public health data showing infant mortality has doubled to 9.9 per 1,000 births and childhood cancer survival rates have dropped from 85 percent to 65 percent since the fuel restrictions began. Essential medicines are available at about 30 percent of normal supply levels, and food production has declined by a reported 60 percent.
Türk said the measures “are incompatible with basic principles of international human rights law,” and called on private sector actors to avoid compliance and blanket disengagement under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Major shipping companies’ suspension of services had already affected more than 2,900 metric tons of humanitarian food cargo, the statement noted.
In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced further designations under the sanctions framework, stating the aim is to “protect US national security and deprive Cuba’s communist regime and military of access to illicit assets.” No response from the US government to Monday’s statement was immediately available.
Türk also called on the Cuban government to respect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and release all those arbitrarily detained.
The statement follows UN experts’ criticism after the Trump administration reinstated Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in January 2025 and the US sanctioning of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other officials in July 2025. Türk warned that rising summer temperatures and the approaching hurricane season risk worsening conditions on the island.
