Press Release: Cuba agrees with the Secretary-General of the United Nations that global poverty is an alarming and priority problem.

New York, 1 February 2018. The Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Ambassador Anayansi Rodriguez Camejo, participated in the general debate of the 56th session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development. 

The Cuban diplomat indicated that, as expressed in the Secretary-General's Report on the priority issue addressed by the Commission, in the regions and countries most affected by poverty, statistical indicators show only a mild decrease in extreme poverty rates; and more alarmingly, there are no indications that the root causes of this phenomenon have changed or tend to disappear.

Therefore, she argued, it is essential that the developed countries fulfill their ODA commitments and take on their responsibility for the current environmental crisis; that the international community develops a true culture of solidarity; that a fair international economic order is promoted, that the demand to pay the external debt stops and that protectionist and discriminatory trade policies cease to be applied against countries of the South. She also urged the relocation of military and arms spending towards development and poverty eradication.

Rodríguez Camejo reiterated Cuba's commitment to the search for a just, equitable and inclusive world that recognizes people as a core element of sustainable development, through the prevalence of social justice, solidarity, equality and respect for the rights of peoples and all human beings.

Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.