CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Statement by the representative of the Cuban delegation, Claudia Pérez Alvarez. Agenda Item 62 - Advancement of Women

a) Advancement of Women b) Implementation of the outcomes of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. New York, 12 October 2009.

Mr. Chairman,

First and foremost, allow me to greet you and the rest of the Bureau. I also wish to express the support of my delegation to the statement by Sudan on behalf of the G-77 and China.

Mr. Chairman,
There have been many achievements on the implementation of Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Nonetheless, the increase in the feminization of poverty worldwide continues to be a matter of great concern.
Among the main obstacles to implement the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals, we could mention the reduction of Official Development Assistance, the negative consequences of the structural adjustment programs, the foreign debt, the stagnation of the international trade negotiations of the Doha Round, the negative impact of Climate Change, and the combination of the current global financial, food and energy crises threatening millions of lives around the globe, including women and girls.

Mr. Chairman,
Without a sustainable development and a just and equitable international order, which eradicate poverty, we will never have full gender equality and empowerment of women.
In order to put an end to these inequalities, uneven exchange, inflation, imbalance in the exploitation of natural resources, and irrational military expenditures must cease. The international monetary system must be substituted and the foreign debt of the countries of the South must be cancelled.

Mr. Chairman,
The elimination of the violence against women also requires the elimination of unilateral coercive measures. Cuba reaffirms that the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed unilaterally by the US Government for over half a century against Cuba, constitutes a genocide act and the major form of violence suffered by Cuban women and girls.
Likewise, we denounce the suffering of the mothers, wives, sons and daughters of five brave Cubans who have been in US prisons for ten years now, serving unjust and arbitrary sentences, for denouncing criminal acts of terrorist groups that operated, and continue to operate, from US soil against Cuba with total impunity.
In this regard, I wish to draw the attention to document A/63/945, in which we denounce the injustice committed by the US Department of State that, last 15 July, denied for the tenth time the visa to Mrs. Adriana Pérez O’Connor, wife of Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, one of the five Cubans unjustly imprisoned in this country. The fact that Mrs. Pérez has never been given the chance to visit her husband since his arbitrary detention on 12 September 1998 is inhuman. The denial by the US authorities was announced to Adriana the very same day of their 21st wedding anniversary. This makes the injustice by the US authorities crueler.
In this respect, Cuba demands the immediate issuance of a humanitarian visa for Adriana Pérez to visit her husband by the US Government.

Mr. Chairman,
Much time before the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, the Millennium Development Goals and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Cuba has been working for gender equality and women empowerment. Cuba was the first country to sign and the second to ratify said Convention. Among the statistics showing the progress of Cuba in this matter, we highlight that 43.32% of our Parliament is integrated by women, thus being one of the countries with the highest representation of women in the Parliament. However, we continue working to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women.
As to the system-wide coherence process, Cuba will continue to actively engage in debates and negotiations to be held in the framework of the plenary meeting of the UNGA 64th session, including, inter alia, the definition of all the details of the new gender architecture in order to have a universal progress in gender equality and empowerment of women.

Mr. Chairman,
Rich countries, accountable for the dismal international panorama, must understand the effects of current crises go beyond the underdeveloped South and call for immediate solutions and collaboration formulae. Today more than ever, the realization of the right to development of our peoples is indispensable to move towards the advancement of women in the countries of the South.
Cuba will continue to share modestly its human resources with those countries in need through international cooperation, where women are a large number of the specialists. Also, we reaffirm the importance of mutual cooperation that will support our efforts to advance towards gender equality and the empowerment of Cuban women.

Thank you

(Cubaminrex- Embacuba ONU)

 

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