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Condemnation of the impact of the
U.S. blockade on Cuban women
UNITED NATIONS.— Cuba condemned the impact of the
U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade on
the development and wellbeing of Cuban women, at the
UN this Monday.
The
unilateral measure imposed by Washington for over
half a century represents an act of genocide and
violence endured by Cuban women and girls, the
diplomat, Jairo Rodríguez, stated in the Third
Committee of the UN General Assembly, regarding
social, cultural and humanitarian issues.
According to the Cuban official, the blockade
results in the greatest obstacle to the progress of
women in the
Caribbean
country, where the American sanctions have caused
losses of 1 trillion 112,532 million dollars and
incalculable human damage.
The
elimination of violence against women and girls
requires the eradication of all
unilateral coercive
measures, Rodríguez warned in
a session devoted to
reviewing progress for this
sector of the planet’s population.
Rodriguez recalled that
on October 28, the
international community
will once again have
the opportunity to reject
the blockade,
when the
plenary of the 193
UN members
vote on a
new draft resolution on
the need
to end the White House’s
siege on
Cuba.
At
this
Third Committee, the
diplomat also denounced
the suffering
of the mothers, wives and
children of the three
Cuban antiterrorist fighters
who remain
incarcerated in
U.S prisons.
Gerardo
Hernández,
Antonio
Guerrero and Ramón
Labañino
were arrested in 1998
together with Fernando
González
and René
González,
who returned to the island
after serving their
sentences, for monitoring
groups
from southern
Florida
who organized, financed
and carried out violent actions
against
Cuba.
In
his speech,
Rodríguez explained that
Cuba,
a small developing country,
has already met
the millennium goals
and even exceeded
some of them,
among which
are those regarding the promotion
of gender equality
and the empowerment
of women.
"Cuba was the
first country to sign
and the second in
ratifying the Convention on
the Elimination of
all forms of
Discrimination
against Women.
Cuban women
access the
public sphere
on an equal
basis with men
and we have a
National Action
Plan as a
follow-up to
the Fourth
UN World
Conference on Women,
which has had three internal
assessment processes," he
added.
Rodriguez also
highlighted the
full access
to health
and education, the reduction in
infant mortality to
4.2 per
thousand live births
– on a par with the richest
countries – and the increase in
life expectancy, which
reached 80 years.
He
stressed that internationally,
despite some progress, there
remains a lot
to be done to
overcome exclusion,
discrimination and violence
afflicting
women.
(PL)
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