Ms President:
Excellencies:
Migration cannot be analyzed apart from its structural causes. It is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather a consequence of underdevelopment, inequality, poverty, unilateral coercive measures and a profoundly unjust international economic order.
The current landscape of international migration has not improved. It is, in many ways, worse than eight years ago, when we adopted the Global Compact for safe, orderly, and regular migration.
Racism, xenophobia and discrimination are on the rise. Rejection of migrants is becoming normalized, particularly in developed countries.
Those who choose to emigrate on economic necessity are criminalized, labeled as “illegal,” subjected to repression, and barred from crossing borders. These are selective restrictions, under which discriminatory practices against low-skilled workers proliferate, while the migration of highly skilled workers is encouraged, further depleting developing countries of their human resources. Given this situation, this Review Forum is of the utmost importance.
Ms. President:
From its adoption Cuba has reiterated consistently its commitment to the goals of the Global Compact.
Enormous efforts are underway to ensure regular, orderly, and safe migration flows. To this end, the Migration Law has been updated, measures have been implemented to benefit Cubans living abroad, and our voluntary national report on the implementation of the Global Compact has been published, among other actions.
Although we are working to guarantee our people’s right not to have to emigrate for economic reasons, the U.S. economic, commercial, and financial blockade—exacerbated to unprecedented extremes by the imposition of a blockade on fuel supplies to our country—is a fundamental cause of the increase in our migration potential.
This criminal policy, designed to demoralize Cubans through deprivation and hardship, constitutes a flagrant violation of the human rights of Cubans and a direct incentive for irregular emigration. We demand an immediate end to the blockade and the policy of hostility toward my country.
Ms. President:
Although migration policies are an integral part of the inalienable exercise of state sovereignty, it will be impossible to implement the Compact unless we promote dialogue, genuine collaboration, and shared responsibility among all states in addressing this global phenomenon.
We advocate for genuine multilateral cooperation on international migration and renew our commitment to continue working, both nationally and in partnership with other countries, to promote safe, orderly, and regular migration.
Thank you very much.