Cuban foreign minister participates in meeting to commemorate Durban Declaration and Action Program

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 22 (ACN) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla is participating today in the High-Level Meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Action Program, held at the United Nations.

The meeting, whose theme is "Reparations, Racial Justice and Equality for People of African Descent", will adopt a declaration to mobilize the required political will for a full and effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Action Program and its follow-up processes, in accordance with a resolution adopted earlier by the General Assembly.

The Durban Declaration and Action Program were adopted by consensus at the 2001 World Conference against Racism, held in South Africa, with specific measures against racism, discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

This afternoon Cuba will also be present at the Meeting of Heads of State and/or Government of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), an international organization of small countries distributed in low-lying islands.

As part of the political will of the Cuban State and government to address discrimination in society, the country has a National Program against Racism and Racial Discrimination, approved by the Council of Ministers in November 2019 and implemented by a Government Commission headed by President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Eighteen agencies of the Central State Administration and an equal number of civil society organizations are involved in its implementation.

The Program shows progress and defines projections that reveal the consistency of a platform of concepts and actions on the road to eradicate, sooner rather than later, manifestations and attitudes that lacerate the human condition and are incompatible with the Cuban socialist model.

It has three stages, framed until 2030, and its general objective is the assessment of the historical, economic, aesthetic, political, social, psychological and cultural factors that favor the presence of racial discrimination practices in Cuban society today, as well as the strengths and opportunities for their confrontation and definitive elimination.