UNGA adopts resolution urging end to US embargo on Cuba

UNITED NATIONS - The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday adopted a resolution calling for an end to the US embargo on Cuba, marking the 28th time it has passed such resolutions.

After dozens of nations and international groups debated on a draft resolution for two days, 187 UN member states voted in favor of the resolution, while the United States, Israel and Brazil voted against it, and Colombia and Ukraine abstained.

The resolution reiterates a call upon all states to refrain from "promulgating and applying" laws and measures whose "extraterritorial effects" affect the sovereignty of other states, in reference to such regulations as the United States' Helms-Burton Act passed in 1996.

Despite the political weight they carry, resolutions adopted by the General Assembly are not legally-binding and thus their implementation cannot be enforced.

The resolution requests the UN secretary-general to prepare a report on the implementation of the present resolution and to submit it to the assembly at its 75th session, which starts in September 2020.