Human rights in Cuba, a priority despite the US blockade

Havana, Oct 19 - Cuba today maintains its commitment to building a more just society and respect for human rights despite the United States' blockade against the country, considered the main obstacle to its development.

The recent election of the largest of the Antilles to join the UN Human Rights Council confirms the Government's commitment to respecting these guarantees.

As part of these policies, one of the main achievements of the Cuban system is public health as a free, universal and accessible fundamental right.

As a result, the country has a life expectancy at birth of more than 78 years, one doctor for every 116 inhabitants and one stomatologist for every 556.

However, this sector is one of the most affected by Washington policies that, according to a report by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they caused losses of more than 104 million dollars from April 2018 to March 2019.

This complex scenario does not prevent Cuban medical collaboration programs as a legitimate expression of South-South cooperation. South.

In 57 years of collaboration, the largest of the Antilles has provided support to 87 countries and territories, while in the midst of the global emergency caused by Covid-19, some 52 brigades arrived in 39 states to contribute to the confrontation of the pandemic.

Another of the fundamental rights of Cubans is popular participation in the conduct of public affairs and decision-making processes, ratified in 2019 when a new Constitution was approved after a broad process of popular consultation.

Cuba also ranks second in the world in terms of the number of women parliamentarians, achievement of gender equality and female empowerment on the island.

They represent 49 percent of the workforce in the civilian state sector, 53 percent in science, and 60 percent of higher education graduates.

The country also works on the right to equality and the fight against discrimination, a guarantee expressed in the National Program against Racism and Racial Discrimination, created in 2019 to definitively combat the vestiges of this scourge in Cuban society.

Freedom of expression, the promotion and protection of the rights of girls, boys and adolescents, and the right of workers are other achievements in the field of economic, social and cultural rights in the sphere of civil and political rights of the country. (Text and Photo: PL)