The diversity of Cuban families is very wide.   Photo: Juventud Rebelde newspaper

By María Josefina Arce 

The year 2022 will be a year of great importance to advance the improvement of our society. From February to April, the new draft of the Family Code will be submitted to popular consultation, after being approved in recent days by the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba in the VIII session of the IX legislature.

The document that will be submitted to the citizenship is the result of an enriching debate, to which Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel had called, who always emphasized the importance of knowing the opinions of jurists, of the different sectors of society and especially, of young people, those who will make up the families of the future.

Hence, the consultation included specialists and institutions such as universities, but also the population, who were able to express their criteria and suggestions through e-mails provided by the Parliament.

A wide-ranging debate that included, of course, the decisive participation of the deputies, elected to represent the interests of the people.

These exchanges, a sign of our participatory democracy, led to the modification of 273 articles and the addition of eight.

Inclusive and respectful of international treaties is the new project, which according to the Minister of Justice Oscar Silvera Martinez does not manufacture or impose models, but is a reflection of the Cuban reality.

Our society is very diverse and according to the current times it has been transforming, so it requires a Family Code in which the rights of some do not exclude others, but recognizes the prerogatives of each person in that area.

The document places love, affection and responsibility at the highest level of family values.

Among the main aspects of the project is the protection of family diversity and the right of each person to form a family, in accordance with the Constitution and its principles of equality, non-discrimination and human dignity.

It also promotes gender equality, protects maternity and paternity and recognizes the prerogatives of children and adolescents, as well as grandmothers and grandfathers and other blood relatives.

Cuba has always been a forerunner and defender of family law, so it has worked hard and listened to everyone. The result, in the opinion of the experts, is a new Family Code of inclusion, diversity, non-discrimination and equality.