CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Children and adolescents

In Cuba, children and adolescents are given special priority by the family, community, civil society and the state, including essential legal protection and the guarantee of the necessary conditions for the exercise of their rights.

The state regulates the rights of children and adolescents through the Constitution of the Republic and various codes, laws and decree-laws, including the Child and Youth Code, the Family Code, the Civil Code and the Penal Code.

The rights of Cuban children and adolescents are also protected through a system of social policies, programs and projects in the areas of health care, education, social security, the environment, and others. 24

Cuba was one of the first countries to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child (on August 21, 1991) and submitted its initial report to the Committee in May of 1997.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography was signed by our country in October of 2000 and ratified in September of 2001. Cuba has also signed the Optional Protocol to this Convention on involvement of children in armed conflicts (October 13, 2000).

In Cuba, the implementation and monitoring of the Convention and its Protocols are integrated in a multisectoral and multidisciplinary system, which involves government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the general public, including children and adolescents themselves.

The Constitution of the Republic grants all Cuban citizens the right to study until
16 years of age. The national education system is universal and free of charge for all levels of education, including university education. Child labor has been eliminated throughout the country since the 1960s.

In response to the agreements adopted at the World Summit for Children in 1990, Cuba formulated its National Action Plan that very year. Every year Cuba compiles a report on its fulfillment of the goals of the World Summit for Children, at both the provincial and national level. Reports are regularly submitted to UNICEF on the fulfillment of the National Action Plan; all of the goals set have been surpassed by Cuba.

Following the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children, held as a follow-up 10 years after the Summit itself, a new revised National Action plan was drafted in 2003.

Some of the results achieved:

Cuba’s infant mortality rate is the lowest in Latin America (6.3 per 1000 live births).

Children are vaccinated against 13 diseases, through a vaccination program that covers 99.5% of the country’s children.

In Cuba there are no differences in levels of literacy within the country. A full 100% of children complete primary education.

 

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