Mr. Chairman,
We appreciate the reports submitted under this item and note with satisfaction the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by all Member States with only one exception.
The international community has made significant progress at the national and international levels with regard to the protection of children against discrimination, exclusion and inequality. However, if the prevailing international economic order is maintained, 167 million children will live in extreme poverty by 2030; 69 million children under the age of five years will have died from curable diseases; 60 million school-age children will remain deprived from education; some 3.6 million children under five years of age will die that year alone, and a total of 69 million will have died between 2016 and 2030.
Mr. Chairman,
Cuba has attained significant achievements in the care and development of children and adolescents which are globally recognized, including United Nations agencies, funds and programmes dealing with social issues.
As a State party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Cuba has designed national plans, policies and programmes targeted to this group, encompassing the provisions of the Convention. These plans cover areas such as health, education, disability care, sport, culture, social prevention, promotion and protection of rights, among others, based on an integrated and inter-sectoral approach.
Child- and adolescent-centered policies, actions and programmes began to be implemented since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, more than 30 years ahead of the Convention itself.
A policy with a high impact on child and adolescent care has been to strengthen the network of homes for children without parental care, with 47 centers accommodating 447 girls, boys and adolescents.
These achievements are the result of the existence of free and universal national health and education systems at all levels, which constitute essential pillars in the realization of this priority. It should be noted that the Cuban Parliament allocates more than 50% of the state budget to health, education and social assistance.
Moreover, Cuba ended the year 2017 with an infant mortality rate of 4.0 per thousand live births and closed the first half of 2018 with 3.9 per thousand live births, the lowest infant mortality rate it has ever recorded.
All Cuban children are vaccinated at birth against 13 communicable diseases and priority is given to the early detection of congenital diseases. We are proud to have been the first country to receive validation from the World Health Organization for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS and syphilis.
Mr. Chairman,
All these achievements have been attained by the Cuban people despite the severe consequences of the genocidal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for more than half a century, with a particular harsh impact on our boys, girls and adolescents.
The worst form of violence against children is denying them the right to life, to a safe world, to health, food, education, culture and healthy forms of recreation.
The General Assembly must continue to play the central role at the United Nations in promoting these rights. We call upon the international community to join forces in order to save children and ensure a better future for our sons and daughters.
Thank you very much.