Mr. President;
In 2025, the United Nations will mark its eightieth anniversary. Such a relevant occasion will be marred by a global multidimensional crisis that surpasses the response capability of the organization and weakens multilateralism.
Hegemonism, coercion and belligerent, interventionist and interfering speeches are on the increase, while millions of human beings are being exposed to the effects of poverty, war and the arms race.
Despite the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which has been long awaited and called for by the overwhelming majority of the international community, the Palestinian people continue to be victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity; an Apartheid regime and the collective punishment that has been imposed by Israel, the Occupying Power, for more than 75 years.
Only during the last 15 months of this genocide, Israel has caused the death of more than 47 thousand Palestinians. Since the beginning of the escalation, more than 13 thousand children and 7 thousand women have been victims of violence in Gaza.
That monumental injustice has counted on the complicity and financial, political, military and logistic support of the government of the United States, which is now suggesting to force the departure of Palestinians from their homeland, with the clear purpose to usurp it indefinitely. Such an intention is unacceptable.
It is the same government that imposes criminal unilateral coercive measures, such as the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba, which has lasted for more than 65 years already; and elaborates spurious and arbitrary lists of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.
Mr. President;
Substantial resources, which are indispensable for the sustainable development of our peoples, continue to be spent in the arms race. The world’s military expenditure, encouraged by the warmongering rhetoric of the United States, increased for the ninth consecutive year and surpassed the figure of 2.4 billion dollars in 2023.
The imminent danger to reenact the nuclear bombings over Hiroshima and Nagasaki will continue to be latent as long as all nuclear weapons not eliminated in a transparent, complete, irreversible and verifiable manner.
Inspired by the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, our region has identified nuclear disarmament as a priority.
Cuba reiterates its call on all member States of the Conference on Disarmament to join the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Our position is based on the humanist thinking of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, a tireless fighter for nuclear disarmament, who said, and I quote: “In a nuclear war, the collateral damage would be the life of humanity.”
Mr. President;
The Conference on Disarmament should set aside rhetorical debates and live up to its mandate.
The adoption of one legally binding instrument that prevents and prohibits the arms race in outer space and another that offers guarantees to the security of non-nuclear-weapons States would be a first important step.
Let us rid future generations from the scourge of war. Let us make peoples’ right to peace, development and justice prevail
Thank you, very much