Paris, 13 October 2025. – Within the framework of the 222nd session of the UNESCO Executive Board, the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Cuba took the floor during the debate on the Organization’s Disability Inclusion Strategy, reaffirming its firm commitment to the promotion and guarantee of the rights of persons with disabilities.
The intervention was delivered by Ambassador Dulce María Buergo Rodríguez, Representative of Cuba to the Executive Board and President of the Cuban National Commission for UNESCO, who conveyed, on behalf of the Cuban Delegation and the Group of Friends of Disability, chaired by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, recognition to the UNESCO Secretariat and, in particular, to the Intersectoral Task Team on the Rights and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, for the technical soundness and depth of the document presented.
The Cuban representative described the Strategy as a historic and necessary step to address a long-standing gap since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS). She also highlighted the value of the efforts made to align UNESCO’s indicators with those of UNDIS, while integrating the Organization’s institutional memory and the specificities of its mandate, thereby reinforcing UNESCO’s leadership on this issue within the United Nations system.
During her statement, Cuba underscored that the adoption of the Strategy marks only the beginning of a process that must be consolidated on a sustained basis. In this constructive spirit, the Delegation presented amendments aimed at strengthening the document in key areas, including: the adoption of a truly intersectoral approach that recognizes the role of Category 1 and Category 2 Institutes and Centres, as well as Field Offices; ensuring meaningful, diverse and geographically balanced participation of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities; and the incorporation of new programmatic dimensions to reinforce the cross-cutting nature of the Strategy, such as inclusive sport and para-sport, the social and human sciences, ethics, culture, and communication and information, including Media and Information Literacy.
The Cuban Delegation expressed its expectation that the criteria and consensus reached during this debate will be reflected in the final text of the Strategy to be submitted to the 43rd UNESCO General Conference, thus reaffirming the Organization’s commitment to full, effective and sustainable inclusion of persons with disabilities across all its programmes and actions.