New York, 12 December 2018. Cuba participated in the General Debate on Item 35 on Culture of Peace of the United Nations General Assembly, reiterating the validity of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, as well as its commitment to this agenda and to multilateralism.
The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cuba to the United Nations, Ambassador Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, indicated that in order to achieve a culture of peace, full respect for the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of States and non-interference in matters that are essentially the domestic jurisdiction of States must be observed, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law.
She added that a culture of peace also requires condemning and adopting concrete actions against all acts, methods and practices of terrorism, as well as giving up on manipulation and double standards in issues such as human rights.
She argued the need to put an immediate end to the root causes of conflicts, including extreme poverty, hunger, inequality, exclusion, lack of access to and quality of health and education services, while promoting understanding, tolerance and solidarity, respect for culture and history and the various religions and idiosyncrasies of every nation.
The island´s diplomat warned on practices of some member States that directly undermine a culture of peace, such as the promotion of covert change of regime agendas in developing countries; the threat and use of force contrary to the Charter of the United Nations; the development of new ever more deadly and sophisticated weapons, including the persistence of large nuclear arsenals; unilateral coercive measures; intolerance and discrimination on ethnic, religious or racial grounds.
She stressed the validity of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, adopted in 2014 in Havana within the framework of the Second Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which is a demonstration of the region's commitment to strengthening peace and negotiated solutions to conflicts and differences, as well as a contribution to a global culture of peace.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.