Cuba to crack down harder on gender violence

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 30 (ACN) Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ines Maria Chapman attended a workshop on gender violence, held at Hotel Nacional de Cuba, where she urged to bring to the fore and react immediately to cases of gender violence.

Representatives of the Federation of Cuban Women and activists from other institutions discussed possible obstacles to the implementation of the Integral Strategy for the prevention and control of gender and family violence.

“Gender violence is present in the public agenda and in the media,” said the deputy prime minister, who called for a thorough review of institutional structures and their actions on this issue.

Debate focused on the scope of and challenges facing the Strategy in the Cuban context, as well as on gender violence from a legal viewpoint and its coverage in the media.

Clotilde Proveyer, a Senior Professor of the University of Havana and expert on gender issues, said that the Strategy has a binding character and is part of the political will of the Cuban State and Government, which virtually turns it into legislation that all national entities are responsible for enforcing.

She added that the document covers all social areas at local and community level and lists the actions to be taken by each institution to deal with cases involving gender violence.

Effective until 2030, the Comprehensive Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Gender and Family Violence, one of the country's Sustainable Development Goals, includes the mid-term evaluation and surveillance of its enforcement.