Madam Chair,
My delegation welcomes Mr. Zamir Akram and thanks his oral presentation. We reiterate to the Working Group on the Right to Development our full support in the fulfillment of its important mandate.
We regret the postponement of the twenty-first session of the Working Group and we hope that it can be held as rescheduled. We request the Office of the High Commissioner to provide all possible support to the Working Group, so that it can resume its work.
We take note with appreciation of the drafting of the legally binding instrument on the right to development, by the Chair-Rapporteur, as mandated by resolution 42/23 of the Human Rights Council. We will follow with great interest the substantive negotiations that, on this project, must be carried out at the Working Group.
Madam Chair,
The right to development is an inalienable human right, and implies the full realization of the right of peoples to self-determination, which includes sovereignty over their riches and natural resources. Perhaps for this reason some rich countries, such as the United States, refuse to acknowledge its existence and hinder its exercise.
For the right to development to be exercised, unilateral coercive measures, which are contrary to the UN Charter and international law, must cease to be applied. The main obstacle to the economic and social development of Cuba is the criminal blockade imposed by the United States for six decades, and tightened in times of pandemic.
We are convinced that the right to development is essential to move forward in the promotion and protection of all human rights for all. For this reason, we will continue to support the United Nations mandates in charge of this matter, as well as the objective of having a legally binding instrument that promotes this right.
Thank you.