Mr. President,
The promotion and protection of all human rights is currently facing an extremely complex juncture. Conflicts and threats to peace persist. Unilateral coercive measures are multiplying. Efforts to halt the destruction of the planet remain insufficient.
The current international economic order continues to reproduce deep inequalities. The international financial architecture is unjust and insufficiently democratic. Data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) confirm that more than half of developing countries face unsustainable debt levels.
To this is added the persistent scourge of hunger. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), more than 735 million people suffer from hunger worldwide. This figure reflects the deep structural failures of the international economic system and the urgency of transforming its rules.
At the same time, neo-fascist and xenophobic platforms are gaining strength. Hate speech is being normalised. In several developed countries, a worrying regression in fundamental rights is observed, including gender equality, sexual and reproductive rights, and the rights of Afro-descendants, ethnic minorities, and migrants.
The Human Rights Council cannot remain indifferent to these realities. The peoples of the world demand concrete action, not mere declarations.
While we hold this debate, the United States and Israel are launching bombs on Iran, President Nicolás Maduro lies in a cell after his kidnapping, and the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip continues to suffer devastating attacks that have caused tens of thousands of victims and massive displacement.
The Council cannot remain silent in the face of these grave violations of international law.
Cuba will continue to denounce time and again the criminal economic blockade imposed by the Government of the United States and its most recent escalation of aggression. This policy constitutes a flagrant violation of the human rights of all Cuban men and women and must end.
Our country will promote in this Council genuine international cooperation based on the indivisibility of human rights, non-selectivity, and non-politicisation.
We will always advocate for respectful and constructive dialogue, in contrast to punitive approaches.
At this session of the Council, Cuba will present three draft resolutions under Item 3, relating to the right to food, cultural rights, and the negative impact of external debt on human rights.
We thank you in advance for your valuable support and co-sponsorship of these Cuban proposals.
Thank you very much.