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No “Excluded” or “Invisible” Children in Cuba.

By Yaniuska Macias Rivero
CUBA, 16 June 2011.- Cuban children fully enjoy their rights while, as said by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), nearly 346 million children in the rest of the world are subjected to labor exploitation.

The political will of the Cuban government, since the triumph of the Revolution on January, 1959, eliminated children’s labor exploitation from its territory taking into account that it prevents children from enjoying childhood and damages their physical and psychological development.

The International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) asserts that this kind of activity interferes with the children’s education process and forces them to abandon school or makes them combine school and
heavy works, which takes a lot of their time.

Whereas in many places around the world social marginalization, extreme poverty, and child labor are common, in Cuba children have the right to free education, which is mandatory up to 14 years old.

The creation of day care centers, the putting into practice of an early stimulation program called “Educate your child”, the development of a community education program “For life”, and the promotion of a culture of rights by means of the project “Por un mundo al derecho” have turned Cuba into a model to follow.

According to UNICEF, today the Caribbean island registers a schooling rate in primary education close to 100 per cent, and no children between five and 14 years is subjected to labor exploitation.

The UNICEF representative to Cuba, Jose Juan Ortiz, recently talked about the results Cuba has been able to attain as to the implementation of children’s rights, which place the country among those with the highest
indicators worldwide.

Concerning the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Ortiz praised Cuba for considering this convention a national law, which is reflected in the creation of a standing commission in the National Assembly to tackle
issues on the children’s education and protection.

Nonetheless, regions like Latin America and Africa do not comply with this legal instrument, which established on article 19 the protection of children against all sorts of physical or mental damage or abuse, carelessness or negligent mistreatment or exploitation ––including sexual exploitation.

The Cuban government gives priority to the attention and protection of children. That’s the reason why, there are no excluded or invisible children in Cuba, despite the fact that geographically it is located in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, an area with the biggest gap between the rich and the poor in the continent. (Cubaminrex-ACN)

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