New York, 23 March 2018.Cuba participated today in the high-level event to launch the International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development", 2018-2028, held at the United Nations headquarters.During the plenary session, the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the international organization, Ambassador Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, recognized that the issue of water is at the heart of human survival, since access to this resource is a human right, whose full enjoyment by all is an objective yet to attain.
The Permanent Representative of Cuba expressed the hope that the Decade will promote tangible actions and commitments aimed at achieving equitable and sufficient access to water and sanitation for those who lack it. She warned that without rapid and effective action, more than 3 billion people will suffer the consequences of water scarcity by 2025.
She also stressed that national efforts in this area should be complemented by strong international cooperation, including innovative forms such as triangular and South-South collaboration. She further indicated that such cooperation should contribute to infrastructure development, human capacity building in the area of water and hydraulic resource management, adaptation to climate change, as well as innovation and transfer of technology to improve access to hydraulic resources and sanitation.
The Cuban diplomat seized the occasion to highlight the actions carried out by Cuba, where 95.5 percent of its population has drinking water coverage, to guarantee the human right to water and sanitation. In this regard, she highlighted the adoption of the Inland Water Law in 2017, which mandates the integrated and sustainable management of inland waters in the country, based on the general interest of society, health, environment and economy.
Rodríguez Camejo recalled that the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States against Cuba for more than half a century has resulted in important limitations and obstacles to access new technologies and products of the water industry and their benefits, as well as to enhance professional training on these issues.
She regretted that natural resources, including water, are subject to commercial manipulation to serve the interests of large transnationals, to the detriment of the wellbeing of peoples.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.