Paris, October 11, 2024. During the debate on the reports on the application of UNESCO's normative instruments, within the framework of the meeting of the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations, which is meeting this week at UNESCO headquarters, the Representative of Cuba to the Executive Board, Dulce Buergo Rodríguez, president of the Cuban National Commission for UNESCO, denounced the negative impact of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the US government more than 60 years ago.
In this regard, the Cuban delegate referred to the intensification of these sanctions with the unjust inclusion of Cuba in the unilateral list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism, which hinders the fulfillment of the obligations that the country has as a member state of UNESCO.
A concrete example in this area has been the difficulty in accessing the UNESCO platforms, created for the presentation of the periodic national reports on the respective Conventions and Recommendations, on equal terms. This was denounced by the Cuban representative, who also asked the Secretariat to ensure that these events do not happen again and to guarantee that all member states have full access to these online spaces.
Cuba responsibly fulfills its obligations as a member state of the organization and, as a result, despite these obstacles, managed to send its compliance report on the 2005 Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, in which it reports on its commitment and dedication to the follow-up of these issues.
The Committee on Conventions and Recommendations is a body made up of 28 countries of the Executive Council. Cuba, as a member of both, actively participates in its work, an expression of its commitment and political will to continue supporting UNESCO's mandate.