Paris, 25 June 2024. The second session of the Intergovernmental Conference of States Parties to the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education, held throughout 24 June, was also a setting in which the Permanent Delegation of Cuba to UNESCO denounced the consequences of the tightened economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States on the Caribbean nation.
Cuba’s representative at the meeting, Third Secretary Laura Alvarez Delgado, not only outlined the steps taken at the national level to implement this global convention —with Cuba being a pioneer State in the adoption of both the global and the regional instruments— but also highlighted global challenges to its advancement, such as war, the indiscriminate use of force, and the imposition of unilateral coercive measures.
On the situation in Gaza and the attack on Iran, the Cuban diplomat stated:
“I would like to begin by expressing the firm solidarity of the Republic of Cuba with the Palestinian cause and the reality described by the distinguished delegation of that State. We have welcomed Palestinian students to our Cuban homeland, and from their testimonies we know firsthand the pain of witnessing the destruction of their nation. Medicine is the main field of study they have chosen, as a commitment to life when there is a systematic siege on a nation and an attempt to destroy, in the meantime, that which we defend in this forum: the fair flourishing of talent.
The condemnation of war and the use of force, as carried out by Israel and the United States in Iran, placing the world before a dangerous escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and constituting a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and International Law, is also a strong warning we wish to convey in this meeting.”
The denunciation of the hostile policy maintained by the United States Government towards the island was also present in the discussions of several agenda items.
According to the Cuban diplomat, the blockade —the main obstacle to Cuba’s development— with its extraterritorial scope, is also a barrier to student and academic mobility to and from the island. Financial persecution hinders the implementation of cooperation projects and the exchange of human and material resources.
In an open attempt to isolate the country, the prohibition of access from Cuban servers to data-sharing platforms or even communication tools directly limits the socialization of the nation’s scientific capital, as well as the continuous improvement and updating necessary to advance in the standardization of qualifications.
The Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education was adopted at the 40th session of UNESCO’s General Conference, on 25 November 2019, and entered into force in March 2023. As the first United Nations global treaty on higher education, the Global Convention ensures the fair, transparent and non-discriminatory recognition of higher education qualifications between regions. It establishes an inclusive framework for the mutual recognition of higher education qualifications and qualifications giving access to higher education, offering pathways for further study and employment. The objectives of the second session of the Intergovernmental Conference included the adoption of the interim work programme for 2025–2027 and the provisional Operational Guidelines, the first subsidiary text developed for the Global Convention.