Days against gender violence and for human rights begin in Cuba
Havana, Nov 24 (RHC) "To go from words to action in this struggle, that's what we want," said the director of the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex), Mariela Castro Espín, as she presented the conference against gender violence and for human rights, which begins Thursday in Cuba.
The scientific dialogue, she said, is joined by social activism to develop concrete actions in these scenarios and thus be able to reach at some point the idea of declaring the different spaces as free of that scourge that is violence against women and girls.
Gender violence is a social, health, and human rights problem emphasized the director of Cenesex, which is why strengthening the capacities of social actors and civil society for the prevention and attention of this phenomenon in local and school scenarios is essential.
She stressed that gender violence is essentially a human rights issue, and underscored the importance of generating public policies that contribute to eliminating this scourge and transforming the conditions that generate it, both structural and symbolic.
It is a problem that concerns the whole society and, therefore, it is urgent to banish the myth that it is a family or couple matter in which others should not get involved, said Castro, who exemplified that many times in the Caribbean nation we contemplate violent scenes without intervening.
Violence escalates, she said, and painfully can even cost someone's life, in addition to all the psychological damage it can generate in the victims and the people around them.
It is a matter of protecting the population through education, not only the victims but also the perpetrators since the consequences of these acts affect both.
The director of Cenesex said that although women are usually the most harmed by aggressions of different natures, men can also be the object of these aggressions.
In addition, they are often prisoners of symbolic violence that educates them in this paradigm as a solution to conflicts, while they assume stereotyped masculinities that subject them to risky behaviors, to not express their emotions, or prevent them from fully enjoying fatherhood, to cite just a few examples. We have to work more on training, emphasized Castro, who addressed the need for clearer messages about the problem and how we can achieve consensus to change them.
She added that complex phenomena such as this one require constancy in communication and educational actions and work with victims and perpetrators since prevention is the fundamental message.
On this path, until December 10, the activities will be focused on promoting local spaces free of gender-based violence, with the interest of developing concrete actions to reach at some point the idea of declaring these scenarios free of this scourge, she said.
Mariela Castro said that since the triumph of the Revolution in January 1959, the Cuban State has been willing to implement policies aimed at empowering women and promoting gender equality and equity.
In this regard, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) has placed the phenomenon of violence on the political and public agenda thus playing a leading role.
Currently, the island has allusions to the issue in the Constitution itself, but it also has the Program for the Advancement of Women, the Comprehensive Strategy for the Prevention of Gender Violence, and the Family Code.
These are concrete expressions that demonstrate the policy of zero tolerance for any form of this scourge.
However, achieving this requires much more preparation, as indicated by the director of Cenesex, hence the purpose of the workshops is to strengthen the capacities of social actors and civil society for the prevention and attention to gender violence in local and school scenarios.
Courses on these topics, colloquiums on trans identities and violence, symposiums to address the legislative changes that have occurred since 2019 in this area, and book presentations, among other actions, are scheduled to meet that goal. (Source: PL)
