Paris, October 9, 2024. On October 9 and 10, UNESCO hosted a day of reflection, on the occasion of the commemoration this year of the 30th anniversary of its program of the Routes of Enslaved People.
A ministerial round table, a dialogue for a framework of restorative justice, as well as an exchange between officials members of the Network to Fight Racism and Discrimination, were spaces that UNESCO promoted to debate on a topic that urgently needs to be given more and more attention.
Cuba was represented at the event by the Vice Minister of Culture, Lillitsy Hernández Oliva, who participated in the ministerial round table, together with representatives from Panama, Saint Lucia, Benin, Senegal, Canada, the United States, among others, who agreed on the importance of carrying out this type of awareness-raising actions, on one of the most regrettable pages in the History of Humanity.
In her speech, Vice Minister Hernández Oliva thanked UNESCO for organizing this meeting, which contributes to addressing the issue of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, one of the most serious crimes against humanity ever committed, and which, she said, have not been properly addressed, nor have their consequences in today's society been recognized.
In this regard, she called for international solidarity with the countries from which these millions of people were forcibly removed, a context in which she reaffirmed Cuba's commitment and willingness to continue developing cooperation programs with African, Caribbean and Southern nations, as part of the joint effort to reverse the terrible consequences of the slave trade and other sad chapters of capitalism in its colonial, neocolonial and transnational financial domination phases.
Furthermore, the Vice Minister reported on the various activities carried out in Cuba as part of this commemoration, highlighting the celebration in Havana, last August, of the International Conference New Narratives: Memory, Resistance and Vindication, organized by the Cuban Ministry of Culture, the Fernando Ortiz Foundation, the UNESCO Regional Office in Havana, with the support of the Cuban National Commission for UNESCO. She highlighted the presence of international figures such as Nobel Prize winner for Literature Wole Soyinka, as well as Doudou Dien and Miguel Barnet, renowned experts and founders of this UNESCO Program 30 years ago.
In 2019, Cuba approved a National Government Program to combat racism and racial discrimination, on whose progress the Vice Minister reported. She also invited those present to the International Conference Cuba 2024 Decade of Afro-descendants. Equality, equity, social justice, to be held in Havana next December, an event that would culminate in the commemoration of this date in the country.