Mr. President,
We thank the delegations of Qatar and Costa Rica for introducing draft resolution L.28.
We reiterate our deep concern about the disproportionate impact of armed conflict on women and children.
We agree that any form of cruel or inhuman treatment of women and children, including unlawful imprisonment, torture, murder, summary executions, mass arrests, collective punishment, intentional starvation, destruction of homes and forced displacement, committed in armed conflict or in occupied territories, constitute international crimes and those responsible must be brought to justice.
In this regard, we denounce in the strongest terms Israel's genocide against the Palestinian population. According to UNICEF data, more than 40,000 children have been killed or injured and more than 17,000 separated from their families. Many children have died of hunger and malnutrition.
More children have died in this massacre than men and women. They die with the complicity and sophisticated weapons provided to Israel by the US government, with the complicit silence of many others.
The world has witnessed the Zionist regime's torture of numerous members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, including young people, whose only crime was their decision to bring to Gaza the humanitarian aid that the Palestinian people need immediately and which continues to be denied to them by Israel.
We support the resolution's call for the Office of the High Commissioner, relevant special procedures mandate holders, commissions of enquiry and treaty bodies to incorporate, in their respective mandates, the need to promote and protect the human rights of women and children in conflict and post-conflict situations.
Cuba supports draft resolution L.28 and hopes that it can be adopted by consensus.
Thank you very much.