Intervention by Vice Minister of Justice Yashna Díaz Cabarrouy at the General Debate of the 34th Session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies, delegates,
The Cuban representation congratulates the Chairman and the Bureau on their election; and expresses its willingness to contribute to the success of the 34th Session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
Despite the joint efforts of States to combat transnational organized crime, criminal organizations have diversified and expanded their activities in recent years.
The rise of this phenomenon has a negative impact on the economic and social development of our nations and leads to an increase in associated criminal manifestations such as corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, human trafficking and violence in its global sense. Hence the shared responsibility that corresponds to us in the confrontation and prevention of these problems.
The Republic of Cuba, as a party to the Palermo Convention and its Protocols, as well as other international instruments on crime prevention and control, maintains its firm commitment to cooperate in this area.
Since the entry into force of the Constitution of the Republic of 2019, the country has been immersed in a process of regulatory updating. To date, 50 laws and 143 decree-laws with their complementary norms have been approved.
The substantive and procedural reform of the Cuban legal system is focused on strengthening the protection of crime victims, especially those in vulnerable situations; the promotion of legal security and the recognition of constitutional and procedural guarantees of the subjects, the articulation of the modalities of post-crime therapeutic measures and opportunity criteria, as well as the confrontation of all discriminatory behavior.
Access to justice constitutes a constitutional right, and a series of national mechanisms have been articulated to guarantee it, such as legal assistance from the beginning of the criminal process, alternatives of economic subsidy and free assistance to those who cannot afford legal representation.
Mr. President,
We reaffirm the political will of our State and Government to prevent and confront human trafficking and illicit drug trafficking, and to protect the victims, which is the basis of our zero tolerance policy.
We uphold the need to confront activities related to cybercrime, given the advance of new technologies and the development of artificial intelligence.
We advocate for the access of States to technologies for a comprehensive approach to the problem of transnational organized crime; and we denounce once again that our country has been and continues to be the victim of restrictions and technical difficulties derived from the illegal economic, commercial and financial blockade to which we are subjected, and the reinclusion of Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
For all these reasons, we ratify the importance of international cooperation to strengthen international capabilities to prevent and confront the problem of transnational crime.
Thank you very much.