In this sense, the Cuban Foreign Minister stated on his Twitter account: “Cuba will reiterate its commitment to the promotion and protection of all human rights for all; without selectivity, without political manipulation, without double standards.

Rodríguez conducted a broad program of activities during his visit, with speeches before the Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament, meetings with high-level United Nations officials and heads of delegations present at the event, among other events.

Cuba has ratified 44 of the 61 international instruments on human rights, which places our country within the group of UN member states with the highest number of ratifications of this kind. We are also making sovereign progress in strengthening the legal and institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights in our country, as part of the process of updating the economic and social development model, and implementing the new Constitution of the Republic.

(Granma)

A total of 191 countries voted in favor of the resolution, with none voting against, and only two abstentions, for the first time ever – the United States and Israel.

The position of the United States expressed this morning is a positive sign, stated Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez at the UN headquarters, but the truth is that the blockade persists and impacts Cuba’s current reality.

The result of the vote – 191 in favor and two abstentions – is a triumph of the heroic resistance of the Cuban people.

(Granma)

(In Spanish) Your Excellency Mr. Raúl Castro Ruz, President of Cuba,
Your Excellency Mr. Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia,
Distinguished Heads of State and government,
Excellencies,
Mr. Timoleón Jiménez,
The honorable Mogens Lykketoft, president of the United Nations General Assembly
The honorable François Delattre, president of the United Nations Security Council
Distinguished members of the diplomatic community and honorable hosts,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning, it is an honor to be with you on this important day for Colombia and for Latin America and the Caribbean.
I am very pleased and grateful to have the opportunity to once again enjoy the hospitality of Cuba.
(In English) On this day, in a world beset by seemingly intractable wars, the peace process in Colombia delivers on a key commitment: an agreement on a ceasefire and the laying down of weapons.
Today the Colombian peace process validates the perseverance of all those around the world who work to end violent conflict not through the destruction of the adversary, but through the patient search for compromise.
I want to express my great admiration for the negotiating teams, which have demonstrated that it is possible to achieve peace with dignity for all concerned. They have overcome tense moments and challenging issues to arrive at an historic achievement.
I also congratulate the Governments of Cuba and Norway, which have devoted considerable diplomatic skills to this peace process. Together with the accompanying countries, Chile and Venezuela, they have shown how national peace efforts can be supported faithfully, discreetly and effectively.
Six months ago, the United Nations Security Council and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, responded to the call of the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP, and made a commitment to support the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the laying down of weapons.
The signing of this essential component of the peace agreement will strengthen this commitment. It will now be crucial to mobilize the people and resources required for monitoring and verification.
We know that peace talks continue, and that significant issues are still outstanding. But we trust that today’s achievement will provide renewed momentum towards the last phase of the negotiations.
Expectations are now high that the vision articulated in the agreements reached over the past three years will soon become a reality. I strongly encourage you to fulfill these hopes.
We at the United Nations are determined to do everything we can, alongside the Government and the FARC-EP, to translate a remarkable negotiating process into exemplary implementation of the peace commitments made.
In my last year as Secretary-General of the United Nations, it is truly a privilege to participate in this historic event. It is an honor to be by your side in laying the groundwork for lasting peace and a better future for all the country’s people.
Let us now work together so that the promise of peace made today in Havana is fulfilled in Colombia.
Thank you very much. (Applause)

In a press release Cuba’s permanent mission to the UN noted that the British bank The Co-operative Bank’s (Co-op Bank) Chief Executive Niall Booker recently confirmed in writing that the closure was due to “risk” arising from the sanctions imposed on the island by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

The delegation recalled that the Co-op Bank closed the accounts of the British Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) in November 2015, citing among the reasons a change in its “risk appetite” and “global regulations”.

The delegation also noted that obeying the sanctions imposed by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is illegal under British and European Union law.

Both the British government and the European Union opposed the strengthening by the United States of the extraterritorial application of the blockade in the 1990s, through the Torricelli Law (1992) and the Helms-Burton Act (1996).

(PL)

“Firstly, due to the contribution of Cuban education professionals to the country’s development. All the work done in the economic, scientific and cultural spheres has its foundation in the education sector.

In fact, the national literacy campaign is celebrating its 55th anniversary this 2016; a cultural revolution which impacted the scientific-technical development of the country and the world. Born out of this campaign was the Cuban “Yo sí puedo” (Yes, I can) literacy method which has benefited 12 million people in 30 countries worldwide.

The celebration also coincides with the 55th anniversary of the founding of our trade union. The National Constitutive Congress was held from November 22 to 23, 1961, in order to unify different teachers’ associations. The union leadership was composed of Dr. Gaspar Jorge García Galló, who served as secretary general, and poet and Professor Raúl Ferrer Pérez, among other outstanding compañeros active in the struggle for better labor rights before the triumph of the Revolution.

The union had a 99% membership rate during those years of intense struggle. We support professionals working in the fields of general, pre-school, technical-professional, special and university education; athletes; sports trainers and workers from scientific facilities not affiliated with the BioCubaFarma Enterprise Group, in addition to over 14,000 sector retirees.

The Union’s chief tasks have been the effective functioning of the organization, with an emphasis on successfully educating and representing workers; creating a supportive climate in every educational facility; and remaining committed to continuing to strengthen the values and ethics, which together with the example set by the workers themselves, we wish to transmit to our athletes and students.”

What activities are planned?

This event coincides with a group of noteworthy activities. Right now we are celebrating the 55th anniversary of the creation of pre-school day care centers. The national act took place in Pinar del Río where participants honored pre-school education, designed to educate children in their first years.

During the event we presented the Estrella Martiana Award to institutions and individuals who have made outstanding efforts to promote the legacy of the work of José Martí within schools.

We are likewise putting on other activities paying tribute to union leaders, important workers, including that of exemplary teachers, as well as sporting establishments which have produced Olympic gold medal winning athletes. Higher education institutions are recognized with the University of Excellence distinction.
In honor of the occasion we are carrying out various repairs and maintenance initiatives to improve sanitation and hygiene across educational facilities. The country is currently involved in an intense campaign to combat the Aedes mosquito which causes dengue fever, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever epidemics, and constantly monitor and attend to our establishments in order to prevent the spread of vectors. Our students participate in mobilization efforts, visiting houses and explaining sanitation methods to residents.

The event is an opportunity to motivate workers to improve the quality of services they provide, with a focus on better training.
May Day is a joyful, celebratory occasion, where we will also be demanding an end to the genocidal U.S. economic, financial and commercial blockade and the return of the territory illegally occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base.

What initiatives will you be bringing to the march?

We are going to express the unity of the Cuban people and our commitment to the homeland and the Revolution. Our professionals educate children and young people in human and altruistic values which benefit our society. During the parade we will reaffirm our patriotism in a strong and colorful display, with our national symbols. We will raise our flags for Cuba and other countries of the continent, plagued by neoliberal policies.

We will be marching in honor of our greatest teacher, Fidel Castro on his 90th birthday. We will have lanterns used by the literacy campaigners, pencils, teaching guides and manuals, all symbols of that great educational achievement.

Our athletes will wear their competition uniforms and we will see glories of Cuban sport alongside those who have qualified for Río de Janeiro, in Brazil, during the march.

Have other international organizations confirmed their participation on May Day?

We will see leaders from the Confederation of American Educators (CEA)an organization, with which we are affiliated. Representatives from Mexico’s teachers’ union, the Federation of University Professors of Nicaragua and union leaders from around the world, will all be coming to the march.

Union delegations from England, Canada, Portugal and friendship organizations from the continent are scheduled to attend. We hope to see a delegation of education professionals from the Bahamas, together with their president, as well as other friends who accompany us every year.

Tell us a bit about activities going on in 2016…
Last December we held our first union conference and this year we have organized actions geared toward implementing the agreements reached during the meeting.

There, we discussed how to resolve the contradiction between quantity and quality; improving the professional level and training of teaching staff; perfecting the education system; strengthening the school’s role as a cultural institution within the community; guaranteeing the mechanisms to apply decisions made in the teaching-training process; aspects of employment legislation; and creating a positive environment for teachers and the school as a whole.

Through our actions we aim to better meet the needs of those who work or have worked in the humanist and complex task of educating. We make the most of every institutional anniversary to hold acts to commemorate the work.

What distinctions has the Union received over 55 years of work?

It is a very seasoned union, which joined the Cuban Workers’ Federation (CTC) in 1993, when it was created, and stands out for its support of ideas regarding social change. A large number of government and institutional cadre directors have pedagogical training.

Teachers participate in all the country’s social and political activities. For example, if a census is taken, workers and students participate, as well as in national events and mobilization campaigns.

Tells us about the Union’s links with similar international organizations…
In regards to the international university and pedagogy event which we hold every year without fail, we host the forum on education in Latin America, organized by the Confederation of American Educators (CEA).Our Union is one of the vice-chairs of this international organization.

We have ties to over fifty trade union organizations around the world and more than thirty in the region. We support common issues such as collective discussions, teacher performance assessments, union membership, quality of teaching and staff training.

We live in a world where there is a tendency to privatize education, limiting access to the majority of the population. Private institutions don’t establish the conditions in which to form a trade union.

In Cuba the education system is state-run and we will continue to defend our right to free and quality education, an experience which is of interest to the other organizations.

The Cuban system is noteworthy for its teacher training programs and although we don’t have enough teachers to complete school staff rosters, we have progressed in pedagogical and postgraduate training of our teachers and professors.

We receive many delegations interested in Cuba’s experiences, even from the United States.
Relations are good in the region; our Union is renowned and is considered to be a reference, which is why international delegations will be accompanying us this May Day.

(Granma)

This year, the World Health Organization has issued its first Global Report on Diabetes, outlining the scale of the problem and suggesting ways to reverse current trends. The burden of diabetes is not equally shared, within or between countries. People in low- and middle-income countries are disproportionately affected, but wherever we find poverty we also find disease and premature deaths.

Diabetes affects countries’ health systems and economies, through increased medical costs and lost wages. In 2011, world leaders agreed that non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, represent a major challenge to achieving sustainable development. Last year, Governments adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, which include the target of reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by one-third.

We can limit the spread and impact of diabetes by promoting and adopting healthier lifestyles, especially among young people. This includes eating better and being physically active. We must also improve diabetes diagnosis and access to essential medicines such as insulin. Governments, health-care providers, people with diabetes, civil society, food producers and manufacturers and suppliers of medicines and technology must all contribute to changing the status quo.

On this World Health Day, let us all commit to working together to halt the rise in diabetes and improve the lives of those living with this dangerous but preventable and treatable disease.

Other issues will be also discussed, such as the world vaccination plan to reduce rates of malaria, the effects of pollution on health, medicines below standard, illegitimate products, with deceptive or forged labeling.

The opening ceremony will be chaired by outgoing president Roberto Morales Ojeda, minister of Health of Cuba, who led the assembly last year. The World Health Assembly is the most important decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Its main role is to outline the WHO policies, appoint director general, define financial policies and review and implement the proposed budget.

(Prensa Latina)

According to a communique released today by Havana’s embassy in Geneva, the United Nations has adopted by consensus the proposal made by Cuba on the right to food, agreeing to continue to deal with that issue in the Council.

A resolution was also adopted regarding the importance of achieving a regional balance on the staff for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to better represent the world’s rich diversity in terms of legal and political systems and schools of thought.

Both resolutions had plenty of sponsors, says the text.

The Cuban delegation strongly opposed the resolutions imposed against specific countries, particularly those introduced against Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Syria, and Sri Lanka.

“These initiatives are not aimed at genuine cooperation; they are guided by purely political motives and domination, and some of them can be used as a justification to promote military interventions and impose regime change,” the Cuban ambassador in Geneva, Anayansi Rodriguez, said.

Cuba’s participation, along with that of other countries, was essential in curbing attempts by several Western delegations to include in the Council’s work the controversial concept of the responsibility to protect, the official added.

That issue is still under discussion at the UN General Assembly, and there is no consensus for discussing it at this forum, Rodriguez recalled.

Newspapers, radio stations, TV channels and news agencies are publicizing the support received by Cuba as well as the speech delievered by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, about the economic, commercial and financial siege maintained by Washington for more than half a century.

The Washington Post emphasized the fact that the vote against the blockade took place for the 21st consecutive time and reported Rodriguez’s description of the blockade as “inhuman, failed and anachronistic.”

He also said that the sanctions have had a cumulative effect on the Cuban economy calculated in the loss of “almost a trillion dollars,” taking into account the devaluation of the currency.

In its section devoted to the events at the United Nations, The New York Times reprinted an item highlighting the speeches of the representatives at the UN who qualified the “blockade” as something archaic and punitive that ought to be filed away in history books.

Meanwhile, ABC News said the blockade was condemned “once again.”

In South America, a variety of Venezuelan newspapers also reported the event, including the Correo del Orinoco, The Universal and Latest News.

In addition to publishing the news of the vote, the American multinational Telesur reflected the positions of representatives of countries like Iran and Egypt in their speeches at the UN.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said that the United States’ only allies were Israel and the small island state of Palau.

The Dutch international broadcaster Radio Netherland said that the resolution on the need to end the blockade passed overwhelmingly with 188 votes in favor, “an umprecedented record”.

Russia Today, likewise, reported the news and emphasized: “Cuban authorities claim that the blockade is an act of aggression”.

Addressing the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, Cuban ambassador to that body Rodolfo Benitez Verson stated that his country will not support any treaty that affects the legitimate interests of the island’s defense and national security.

We will not support either an instrument that is not fully consistent with the consecrated UN Charter principles, including noninterference in internal affairs, respect to sovereign equality, political independence, and territorial integrity, the diplomat said.

Benitez Verson stated as an indispensable condition that the future instrument does not affect or limit, in some way, the right to the legitimate defense consecrated at the UN Charter’s article 51.

We will not share the stance of those who identify the success of this Conference with the adoption on July 27, at any price, of an Arms Trade Treaty, whatever it may be, the Cuban delegate said during his speech at the UN plenary session.

“Cuba does not support any criterion that could be applied discriminatory and selectively or could be easily manipulated to establish conditions and exercise pressures,” the Havana delegates noted.

The United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty renewed session on July 4, after solving differences about the status of Palestine and the Vatican representatives in the event.

The opening ceremony took place after participants decided that the Palestinians and the Vatican maintained as observers in the meeting, which will conclude on July 27 and expects the approval of a Treaty on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated that the common objective of participants is to achieve a robust, binding ATT with a real impact in the life of million human beings that currently suffer from armed conflicts, repression, and violence.