The special rapporteur on the right to food of the UN Human Rights Council is to visit Cuba next week to observe Cuban initiatives aimed at meeting the right to food, reported the DPA. Rapporteur Jean Ziegler, a Swiss sociologist, would examine "national policies and programmes established to facilitate the availability of and access to food and water," the UN said in Geneva. Observers said the invitation was the first since the 1980s issued to a special UN rapporteur by Cuba, which for some 20 years has refused to work with the UN on human rights issues. The refusal was because the erstwhile Human Rights Commission had regularly condemned Cuba's alleged violation of human rights. The new UN Human Rights Council, which has been functioning for over a year, has removed Cuba from the list of countries under constant observation. The UN said the special rapporteur would submit a report on his findings, including a list of recommendations, at the seventh session of the Human Rights Council next March.
