The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called for the immediate lifting of US sanctions on Cuba, warning that fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and tightening extraterritorial measures are directly causing preventable deaths, particularly among children. Türk cited statistics showing infant mortality has doubled to 9.9 per 1,000 births and childhood cancer survival rates have fallen from 85 to 65 percent, while a backlog of nearly 100,000 people awaits surgery due to energy shortages crippling medical services. The sanctions, introduced and escalated by the Trump administration partly by threatening steep tariffs on any country supplying Cuba with oil, have left the island almost entirely cut off from foreign fuel, international payment systems, and airline connections — conditions Türk described as contrary to basic international human rights law.