Paris, 10 December 2024. UNESCO actively participated in the International Conference “Cuba 2024: Decade for People of African Descent” from 9 to 13 December in Havana. In his virtual message at the opening session, the Assistant Director-General for Priority Africa and External Relations, Mr. Firmin Edouard Matoko, conveyed the Organization's support for this initiative, which he described as a notable example of Cuba's commitment to the International Decade for People of African Descent, fully aligned with UNESCO's mandate.
In this context, he recalled the commemoration this year of the 30th anniversary of the UNESCO Programme on the Routes of Enslaved People, in which Cuba had also had a prominent participation, while emphasizing the importance of the issue of Afro-descendants for all humanity, and the need to continue the battle for the rights of these people around the world.
In this regard, he said that the theme of the Conference, centered on the concepts of equity, equality and social justice, constituted a significant contribution to promote a transformative dialogue, and to promote the fight against all forms of discrimination and exclusion.
Also speaking at the opening of the event were prominent personalities, including the Minister of Culture of Cuba Elpidio Alfonso Grau, the American actor and great friend of Cuba, Danny Glover, the intellectual James Early Counts, special guests at the event; as well as the president of the seventy-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Philemon Yang, the foreign minister of Togo, H.E. Mr. Robert Dussey and the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Her Excellency Ms. Natalie Barnett.
The opening day was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba, Inés María Chapman Waugh; the Deputy Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas; the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo; the President of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, Martha Bonnet; the President of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation, Miguel Barnet and representatives of other Cuban entities, as well as directors of offices of the United Nations System in Cuba and the region.