CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Speech by Mr. Felipe Pérez Roque, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, at the inaugural session of the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement on the Advancement of Women. Guatemala, January 23, 2009.

Your Excellency Mr. Álvaro Colom, President of the Republic of Guatemala,

Mrs. Sandra Torres de Colom, First Lady of the Republic of Guatemala and President of the Second NAM Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women,

Ministers, Heads of Delegations of Member and Observer Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Authorities of the Government, Legislative Power and representatives of Guatemalan society,

Distinguished Delegates:
On behalf of the Presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement, I wish to thank the Republic of Guatemala, its authorities and its people, for providing the venue and organizing this meeting, and for the hospitality with which they have welcomed all participants.
A visit to Guatemala holds special significance for any Cuban because of the historical bonds and the ties of brotherhood which have united our peoples. At the close of the nineteenth century, Guatemala welcomed José Martí, the National Hero of Cuba, who was teaching at the Teacher Training College and held a professorship in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Guatemala.

José Martí described Guatemala in the following way: "I shall say with all thankfulness how beautiful and remarkable the Guatemalan land is, and how fraternal and prosperous, where work is habit, nature is virtue, tradition is affection, sky is blue, land is fertile, women are lovely and men are good”.

President, Sandra, brothers and sisters of Guatemala:

We thank you for the special effort you have made in the organizing of this Second NAM Meeting and for the hospitality and affection with which you welcome the delegations coming here from all over the world so that they may discuss here in Guatemala, at length and in a fraternal frame of mind, a subject which is extremely important for the agenda of our Movement.

I would also like to say that our meeting has received a message from the President of the UN General Assembly, Father Miguel D’Escoto. A copy of this message from the President of the General Assembly will be distributed as an official event document to all the delegations. In his message, Father D’Escoto reflects upon the importance of our meeting and of the discussion on this subject in the current situation.

We are pleased that the Second NAM Meeting on the Advancement of Women is being held in Guatemala complying with an agreement adopted by our Heads of State and Government at the XIV NAM Summit in September 2006. That meeting, moreover, ensures the continuity of NAM ministerial events on a prioritized subject on the international agenda, gender equality, whose first meeting took place in May of 2005 at the initiative of Malaysia which was President of the Movement at that time.

We express our acknowledgement of the work carried out by the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women established as a result of an agreement at the First Ministerial Meeting, and we also thank the government of Malaysia for its support.

The empowerment of women, the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, the promotion of their comprehensive access to the economy and to health services, education and justice constitute the central goals for our endeavour. The Movement’s commitment to carry out those aims was reflected in the Final Documents of the XIV Summit of Havana and in those of the XV Ministerial Conference held in Teheran in July 2008.

The central topic for debate at this meeting, “The Advancement of Women before the Millennium Development Goals” is of particular importance not just for the priority we assign to gender equality but also to the enormous challenges set out for the carrying out of this principle within an especially complicated international situation, one in which serious crises are battering our countries in the financial, food, energy and climatic spheres and which aggravate the injustices and inequities characterizing the ruling international order.

Mr. President, Delegates:

Our voice is heard today in solidarity and support of the heroic Palestinian people, submitted to the illegal Israeli occupation. Palestinian girls, boys and women who now make up almost half of all the victims have suffered more than anyone else from the brutal Israeli military aggression against Gaza, which has been energetically condemned by the Non-Aligned Movement and, under its leadership, by the Council for Human Rights and the UN General Assembly.

At this event, important working directions for the Movement will be agreed upon, on topics essential to the well-being of our countries and, in particular, for the advancement of women’s legal and social condition; some of these are: the promotion of equality between genders and the empowerment of women; the eradication of poverty and hunger; universal primary education; the reduction of infant mortality; improvements to maternal health; the battle against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; the guarantee of environmental sustainability; and the promotion of international cooperation for development.

Almost 14 years have gone by since the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted. Nevertheless, we cannot state that effective and full compliance with all the commitments taken on in its 12 spheres of essential concern has been achieved.

Circumstances encumbering our development have also limited the national efforts of many Movement member countries. Thus, our actions for the improved advancement of women have been limited by the absence of a new international economic order that would make progress and well-being for all a possibility, as well as the elimination of all types of discrimination and the strictest respect for sovereignty, independence, self-determination of the people and non-interference in the internal affairs of states.

We live in a world where:

- 3 billion people still suffer from a lack of water;

- more than half a million women in developing countries die each year in labour or from pregnancy complications;

- where nearly one fourth of boys and girls living in developing countries suffer from malnutrition;

- a world where almost half the population of South countries lacks access to sanitary services;

- where more than a third of urban populations in developing countries lives in slums;

- a world where women are 60% of the world’s poor and, moreover, they represent two-thirds of illiterate adults;

- a world where almost two-thirds of women employed in the developing countries have unstable jobs, in the so-called informal economy, or they carry out unpaid family jobs;

- women are victims of different forms of violence; between 3 and 4 million women in the world are beaten each year and thousands of them die as a result of this treatment;

- women make up 40 % of all adults infected with AIDS;

- we live in a world where women, especially those entering the job market for the first time, are still the first ones to be fired and the last ones to be hired again;

- we live in a world where, as a rule, women cannot fully participate in public and economic life; they have limited access to leadership positions and the decision-making processes; their job options are worse and they earn just 70% of what men doing the same job earn.

As if these facts were not serious enough, they only half-heartedly describe the difficult panorama in which our struggle to attain true and complete equality for women has been going on.

In order to ensure that all women on our planet fully enjoy their rights, it is necessary to change the unjust world order of today.

We need to put an end to the hurtful privileges of an opulent minority that hold onto their position at the cost of the suffering and misery of our people.

Resources for development assistance for our peoples do exist; the facile multimillion-dollar financial plans organized by the United States and Europe to save corrupt and irresponsible bankers have cleared up any doubts about this. What doesn’t exist in the governments of the wealthy, industrialized countries is a political will to mobilize the resources and to adopt decisions necessary for the establishment of a just and equitable world order.

In the year 2000 at a United Nations Summit Meeting, we agreed upon the Millennium Development Goals; we set ourselves some modest targets that would nevertheless constitute a first step. It is ever more obvious that the Millennium Goals will not be able to be met, those modest goals that we set out in 2000 for the year 2015. The principal obstacle continues to be the lack of funding. It has been stated that the developed countries don’t have the resources, the countries having the moral duty and the commitment to give official assistance towards the development of more than a hundred underdeveloped nations in the world. It has been said that they lack the resources, and that for that reason they haven't been able to fulfil the old commitment dating from 1970 when the developed countries promised to devote 0.7% of their Gross Domestic Product as Official Development Assistance. But, even today, just as we are about to celebrate 40 years of that commitment, the developed countries are only devoting less than 0.3% of their Gross Domestic Product to Official Development Assistance.

They claim there is no money, then, how did more than 4 trillion dollars manage to appear to save the banks, to save the financial institutions that were speculating in the stock markets, in order to keep up the lifestyles, the opulence, the privileges of those who were speculating with the prices of raw materials, of fuels, of the banks who were committing all kinds of irresponsible acts?

Indeed, trillions of dollars did appear to save the banks. To fulfil the Millennium Goals they said that they couldn’t find the necessary 150 billion dollars; a very minimal figure compared to the enormous resources devoted to rescuing the financial systems of the developed countries.

It isn’t money that is lacking; what is lacking is the political will, the ethical consistency to demonstrate in practical actions what they have been talking about and promising in words.

Our Movement must continue demanding that the developed countries fulfil their commitments, that they act ethically and stick to their responsibility of helping the billions of human beings living in other countries and who haven’t been able to attain development because they were colonies, because they were pillaged and because they were submitted to an order that still exists, that impedes our development and our well-being.

The situation of the world’s women cannot improve without changing the current world order, and national efforts are not enough if the international environment where such efforts are taking place is not changed.

The time has come, delegates, to close ranks in order to put an end to egotistical waste and unbridled consumerism of those who put the future of our peoples and life on our planet itself into jeopardy. The time has come to demand an end to the system that facilitates the pillaging of our resources and reproduces and increases the structural causes of the under-development that affects us. The time has come to demand that the considerable resources now being dedicated to military expenses in the world start being directed towards development.
Almost a trillion dollars is devoted to military expenditures. How much more development and resources there would be to fight against poverty and hunger, against maternal and infant mortality, if at least one part of the resources spent on weapons and the military would go towards the social development of our peoples?
Now that the dogma of neoliberalism has resoundingly failed, we must take advantage of this historic opportunity to give ímpetus to the establishment of a new world order sustained by the principles of justice and solidarity.
The non-aligned countries bring a unique and diverse heritage of ideologies, religions, cultures, levels of development and historical experiences. We are 118 member nations in the Movement, and our diversity is the source of strength and creativity. Our unity and solidarity, in defence of mutual aims and interests, is the only possible alternative in the face of the threats and challenges we are facing. Together, united, we shall make our voice to be heard in the United Nations and in the multilateral forums. If we are separate, we cannot achieve our noble and just aspirations.
When I speak about Cuban women, who are represented here at this meeting, I can only state that without their valiant contributions, our Revolution would not be celebrating its 50th anniversary in victory.

Life expectancy for Cuban women today is at more than 80 years. They make up 66% of the country’s technical and professional work force and almost 60% of all university graduates.

Cuban women have been resisting in the front trenches of our epic battle against the cruel and prolonged blockade imposed on our people. On behalf of our women, our boys and girls and all our people, I thank you for your unwavering solidarity.

Mr. President, Sandra, Delegates, we hope that the Ministerial Meeting we are beginning today will constitute a new milestone in the struggle of non-aligned countries for a better world, for a world with the right to justice, to development and to well-being for all the women and men on the globe.

Thank you very much.

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