Geneva, 1 September 2025. Speaking at the inaugural session of the Working Group established by the Human Rights Council to examine the possibility of drafting an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson, Permanent Representative of Cuba to the UN in Geneva, emphasized that the universalization of the right to education is a priority for the Island.
He described as alarming the fact that 250 million children, adolescents, and young people do not attend school and that 175 million children are not enrolled in preschool.
The Cuban representative supported the adoption of the Optional Protocol as soon as possible and proposed that the instrument include the following main elements:
1. Establish the right to early childhood care and education and to free, quality public preschool and secondary education for all as an intrinsic part of the right to education.
2. Establish the allocation of sufficient resources to education as a national priority for all States.
3. Commit States to guarantee equal access to educational opportunities and reduce inequalities in outcomes, including by adopting laws and policies to combat and eliminate all forms of discrimination and inequality in the school environment.
4. Promote inclusive institutional policies and practices to ensure safe and healthy learning environments, with emphasis on the most vulnerable groups.
5. Provide for the elimination of unilateral coercive measures in the field of education. He argued that these measures create serious difficulties for the affected countries in acquiring or producing school supplies and materials, accessing new information technology and telecommunications tools, accessing the Internet, and accessing advanced learning programs, among other disadvantages.
6. Establish provisions that guarantee the provision of technical assistance, capacity building, and access to financing on preferential terms for developing countries.
7. Promote international solidarity and cooperation for the implementation of the right to quality education for all.