New York, 30 January 2018. Today, the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Ambassador Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, deposited the Instrument of Ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury at a ceremony held at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is an international legal instrument aimed at protecting human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and its compounds. The said Convention was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Mercury held in Geneva, Switzerland on 19 January 2013 and adopted the same year, on 10 October 2013 during a Diplomatic Conference (Conference of Plenipotentiaries) in Kumamoto, Japan.
Cuba, which participated from the beginning in the negotiation and creation of the Minamata Convention, ratifies its willingness to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and its compounds. The island further commits to adopting best practices and safer alternatives for the handling and use of the chemical compound.
Cuba's accession to this Convention shall enter into force 90 days after the date of deposit of this instrument of ratification, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.