New York, 24 January 2017. As part of the High Level Dialogue “Building Sustainable Peace for all: Synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustaining Peace”, the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Ambassador Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, reiterated today that peace is much more than the absence of war while noting that sustainable and lasting peace cannot be achieved unless the complex problems of social and economic development affecting our nations are solved, particularly those of the South.
Thus, while highlighting the need to address and eradicate the causes of conflicts, such as the elimination of poverty, hunger, inequality, discrimination, social exclusion, irrational patterns of consumption and production and the development of a culture of tolerance and peace, contrary to the philosophy of the law of the strongest, to exploitation, colonialism and imperialism, the Cuban diplomat supported that the United Nations invest in conflict prevention, especially in strengthening the capacities of affected countries to overcome them.
In reference to the building of sustainable peace through the synergy between 2030 Agenda and sustaining peace must take fully into account the principle of national leadership and ownership, which leads to capacity-building in developing countries, technology transfer, compliance with commitments and increase of the Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The Cuban representative concluded her statement by reiterating Cuba's commitment to sustainable peace and reaffirmed the validity of the postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace signed during the Second Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and its validity for the peaceful relations of the region with others countries of the world. (Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations)