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Cuba: US Blockade Seriously Affects Children

GENEVA, March 19, 2007.- Cuba said on Monday that the unilateral, illegal US blockade against the Island is a clear, serious violence against Cuban children.

Speaking before the plenary of the UN Council on Human Rights, currently in session in Geneva, Cuban delegate Yuri Gala recalled that children are victims of armed conflicts, aggressions and foreign occupations.

Gala"s speech was part of the Council"s discussion of a report presented by independent expert, Brazilian Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.

The Cuban delegate highlighted the recognition of issues including family, community, society and child labor in the document. However, he lamented that other central aspects of the concept of violence against children were missing.

A comprehensive attention to the issue must include the negligent treatment of children, that manifests itself in the current unfair international order and the impact of politics and decisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Breton Woods institutions, he said.

He stressed that poverty, hunger, illiteracy and marginalization are main forms of violence against children.

As an example of the cruel nature of the US blockade, Gala mentioned the case of a Cuban child who was prevented from receiving a digital camera as a prize in an international drawing contest because it had US components.

Regarding the report, Cuba suggested that all aspects related to the concept of violence against children should be included, and demanded a definition in the fields and content of the expert’s mandate, so to avoid overlapping of functions in other mechanisms of the Council. (Cubaminrex-PL)

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