Mr. President,
Cuba agrees with the Special Rapporteur on the need to promote the free and meaningful participation of individuals and communities in decision-making processes that affect their development.
Article 2.1 of the Declaration on the Right to Development clearly establishes that the human person is the central subject of development and should be the active participant in and beneficiary of this right.
It is essential to ensure adequate conditions so that such participation does not reproduce the persistent inequalities in the current international system, but rather contributes to sustainable and people-centered development.
Cuba agrees that it is essential to undertake a comprehensive and profound reform of institutions such as the Security Council, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization, which do not promote the equal participation of all States.
All unilateral coercive measures, as well as any other form of coercion, must also be eliminated. These measures constitute, in themselves, an obstacle to participation in development processes and to the equitable distribution of their benefits.
We thank the Special Rapporteur for denouncing the devastating impacts of the hostile policy of the United States on the human rights of the Cuban people, particularly the fuel blockade, which the mandate holder has described as an example of energy strangulation.
Thank you very much.