HAVANA, Feb 13 (NNN-ACN) — Around 30,979 people from 40 Cuban municipalities, chosen on account of their high rate of gender violence in recent times, will benefit from the Project Apoyo a la respuesta nacional a la violencia basada en género [Supporting the national response to gender-based violence], an initiative led jointly by the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), UNFPA Cuba, and the Canadian Embassy.
Osmayda Hernández Beleño, member of the National Board of the FMC and director of International Relations, the project seeks to provide effective care to the victims of violence, including children, teenagers, young people, women, transgender persons, people in vulnerable situations, HIV patients and senior citizens, who will have access to guidance services, legal counsel and health care in person or through a domestic violence hotline.
“We will work to make this social problem more visible and better understood as contrary to a person’s human rights”, the official stressed. “Cuba strives to eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination through public policies and programs designed to boost equality, as befits the ideal of social justice pursued by the FMC together with national entities and international bodies such as UNFPA, supported by the Canadian Embassy”.
UNFPA Cuba director Marisol Alfonso de Armas, said that Apoyo… will bring this effort to municipal level to complement related Cuban policies and pointed out that the project is not only about women and girls, since this issue needs action to deconstruct stereotypes and counter machismo with a view to creating a better culture of peace and equity.
Scheduled to be implemented until 2029, the project is part of the Integral Strategy for the Prevention and Attention to Gender and Family Violence in line with the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as with provisions laid down in the National Program for the Advancement of Women and the National Plan for the Socioeconomic Development. — NNN-ACN
