Statement by H.E. Ambassador Yuri A. Gala López, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Chargé d'Affaires a.i., at the 16th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). New York, June 13th, 2023.
Mr. President,
Cuba ratifies its commitment to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and attaches great importance to the Conference of States Parties as the appropriate forum for strengthening compliance with the Convention.
The protection and care of persons with disabilities in our country fully complies with the Convention. Such legal protection was ratified and strengthened with the new Cuban Constitution, approved in 2019.
We have a system of institutions, public policies, legal norms, economic resources and qualified personnel to protect the human rights and meet the needs of this population group.
The Cuban Association of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (ACPDI) was recently established. In Cuba there are some 133,000 people living with this condition, the greater disability situation in the country. This new Association joins three other groups of persons with disabilities: the Cuban Association of Persons with Physical and Motor Disabilities, the Cuban National Association of Deaf and the National Association of the Blind.
The new Family Code, in force in the country since 2022, favors, even more, the full development of sexual and reproductive rights in the socio-family environment, regardless of the situation of disability in which the person is; as well as the right of people to self-determination, preferences, independence and to have equal opportunities in family life.
In this same regulation, the de facto custody and foster care institutions are introduced to guarantee a greater and more efficient care of the person with disabilities, trying to keep them in their usual social environment or to incorporate them into a family environment; as well as to facilitate their integration, respect their right to live in a family and avoid their internment when this is not needed or desired.
In Cuba, the State, society and families have the obligation to protect, promote and ensure the full exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities. The Cuban State creates the conditions necessary for the rehabilitation or improvement of the quality of life, personal autonomy, inclusion and social participation of persons with disabilities, despite the intensified effects of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States Government.
In our country, people with disabilities receive free hearing aids, orthopedic prostheses, wheelchairs and canes, among other treatments. They have access to quality, effective and affordable medicines. They have access to the universal and free of charge National Education System, including Special Education, aimed at those who have some type of disability that requires specialized attention. They not only benefit from the social programs and public policies of universal coverage, they are also empowered actors of their own realities, with full governmental support. They have the right to social security and assistance. Their insertion in the labor sphere is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Code and its Regulations. The employment policy gives them priority access to regular work.
Despite the country’s many advances in this area, we have important challenges ahead, which we will continue to overcome with the strong engagement of people with disabilities.
Thank you