CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Statement by Maria del Carmen Herrera Caseiro, Member of the delegation of The Republic of Cuba

Agenda item 12: Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective

Geneva, April 2005

Mr. Chairman:

This year, the international community is getting ready to conduct an evaluation process of the commitments made by the world leaders five years ago in the context of the so-called Millennium Summit.

The objectives and goals agreed upon on that occasion were not only an important recognition of the most pressing problems of the world, but also the materialization of a plan of action- which although modest and limited- could become a first significant step to try to revert the dramatic situation affecting millions of human beings on our planet.

Five years after the adoption of the Millennium Declaration, the situation cannot be more discouraging. Not only have there been no advances but also some obvious backwardness.

Women, particularly those living in a poor and underdeveloped world, have been and still are the most affected ones. In these countries, the harsh conditions imposed by poverty, hunger, diseases, illiteracy, armed conflicts, violence and discrimination are compounded with the huge burden of foreign debt, the impact of neoliberal-style structural adjustment programs and the negative repercussions of the globalization process. These factors jeopardize any national efforts by South States to overcome underdevelopment imposed on them, and carry their plans and programs forward for the benefit of women.

Women account for 70% of the nearly 2 billion poor people that there are in the world. Two thirds of the 876 million illiterates on our planet are women. More than half of the 40 million AIDS patients are women. It is indeed, a “feminization” of poverty which inevitably brings along with it the “feminization” of illiteracy, of diseases, of social exclusion, and of many other evils stemmed from the underdevelopment imposed on South countries.

This dramatic situation facing Third World peoples stands in contrast with the opulence of the countries of the North where, in spite of their obvious wealth and development, women's human rights are continually violated nonetheless; motivated not only due to the discrimination and lack of equality with respect to men but also due to alarming increase of violence against women, expressions of racism and xenophobia, and discrimination and exclusion of minorities, migrants and indigenous people whose main victims are women.

Mr. Chairman:
Cuba has proven that a different life in the interest of human beings is possible, and that in this framework the situation of women can be radically transformed and their rights fully realized.
In Cuba, women account for 45% of labor force. They represent 66.2% of all mid- and high-level technicians and professionals, 72% of labor force in the educational sector, 67% in health sector and 51% in Science and Technological Innovation. The maternal mortality rate has been brought down to 34.3 per 100 000 deliveries. The level of participation of women in leadership positions reaches 35.4%, placing Cuba among the top ten countries in the world with respect to women representation in Parliament, with 35.9% of female presence in the country’s highest legislative body.
The advances achieved by our country in terms of equality, advancement, participation and development of women are really commendable, especially if you take into consideration that such deeds have been achieved in the midst of a brutal economic warfare imposed by the U.S. government with the purpose of restoring its neocolonial rule over Cuba.

Firmness and proven political will of the Cuban people and of its government- which has spared no efforts or human and material resources to carry forward its social project for the benefit of the whole population- have been essential ingredients to achieve these results, and at the same time, are the main weapons to face the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade that the U.S. government has applied for more than forty years against Cuba, whose negative consequences have a greater impact on Cuban women and children.

Mr. Chairman:

Just a few days ago, this Commission heard testimonies from Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, wives of René González and Gerardo Hernández, respectively, 2 of the five compatriots who are cruelly and unjustly imprisoned in U.S. jails. These women have come here on behalf of the families of the five, the mothers, wives and daughters who are suffering due to the arbitrary jailing of their beloved ones, and on whom the U.S. Government has shown no mercy, making it difficult- if not impossible- for the wives to visit her husbands in prison.

That is why, once again, Cuba has come to denounce in this Forum the situation these Cuban women are enduring.

Cuba, once again, has come to demand the end to the violation of the rights of these women and to the psychological violence inflicted on them.

Once again, Cuba urges the mechanisms of this Commission, in particular the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, to contribute, in the discharge of her mandate, to stopping these violations.

Once again, Cuba demands that justice be served.

Thank you very much.

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