Cuba has decided to present its candidacy to a member of the Human Rights Council for 2021-2023. This was confirmed by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, during his speech in Geneva in the High Level Segment of the 43rd regular session of this body.
If we speak of true commitment in the matter of promotion and protection of all Human Rights for all the people and peoples of the world - without double standards, manipulation, politicization and selectivity of the subject -, our country proudly exhibits important achievements at international level.
Last year, the Cuban people ratified the Constitution of the Republic in a referendum. The results of the process confirmed the firm support of the people for the political system they have chosen freely and for the Cuban Revolution. The country's Magna Carta enshrines Human Rights that are still a chimera for other peoples of the world.
Despite almost six decades of the blockade imposed by the United States, the Greater Antilles met the eight Millennium Development Goals and their goals, three of them before the deadline set in 2015, and today has full commitment to meeting the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, with some goals already achieved.
Cuba has relevant results in education, health and social security, recognized worldwide. True to its solidarity vocation, it has supported other peoples in the struggles against colonialism and apartheid, and in the fight against Ebola in Africa. More than 400,000 health workers have carried out missions in 164 nations (work that has allowed the Cuban medical contingent Henry Reeve to obtain the Public Health Prize in Memory of Dr. Lee Jong-wook, granted by the Executive Council of the World Organization of Health), and thanks to the literacy program "I can" (Unesco-King Sejong Literacy Prize in 2006 and Mestres Prize 68 in 2012) more than nine million people have been literate in more than 30 States.
Among the most relevant examples of the Island's contribution to world peace are the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace during its Presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac). Havana hosted the dialogues between the Colombian Government and the farc-ep, which concluded with the signing of the Peace Agreement, and hosted in February 2016 a historic meeting between Pope Francis and His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and of All of Russia, the first meeting of the leaders of both churches after the schism of 1054. "If it continues like this, Cuba will be the capital of unity," said His Holiness Francis on that occasion.
Our country participated actively in the negotiation for the establishment of the Human Rights Council, was elected as a founding member of this from 2006 to 2009, and member in the periods 2009-2012, 2014-2016 and 2017-2019, being in the latter The most voted country in the region. From June 2011 to June 2012, he assumed one of the Vice Presidencies of the Council, representing our America.
With this candidacy, Cuba will continue to contribute to the international community its experience in dialogue and cooperation, in favor of Human Rights.