New York, 10 October 2019. Cuba, as a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, has drawn up national plans, policies and programs integrating the principles of the Convention. These plans cover the areas of health, education, disability care, sports, culture, social prevention, promotion and protection of rights, among others, stated today the Cuban Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, Deputy Permanent Representative and Chargé d'Affaires a.i., to the United Nations, during the debate of UN Agenda Item 66: "Promotion and protection of the rights of children".
She explained that the island has free and universal national health and education systems at all levels, which are essential pillars in the realization of the promotion and protection of children's rights. The Cuban Parliament allocates more than 50% of the state budget for healthcare, education and social assistance, she said.
All these achievements, said the Cuban diplomat, have been attained by the Cuban people despite the serious consequences of the strengthened economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for more than half a century, which has a particularly strong impact on our children and adolescents.
This situation contrasts with the fact that only one State has not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child: the United States of America; where, according to 2016 data, 18% of children (13.3 million) lived in poverty, children represented 32.6% of the poor population and 21% of the homeless. This powerful nation has held migrant children in detention centers, separating them from their families and causing regrettable deaths, in flagrant violation of international law, she said.
Rodríguez Abascal called on the international community to join forces to save children, to build a just and equitable world that will ensure a better future for all children.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations