About the preliminary draft of the new Code of Children and Youth for Cuba.

The protection of children and adolescents and the promotion of their integral development are fundamental objectives in the transformation of Cuban society, since they combine the social interest with their rights and individual interests.

Cuba has extensive legislation, ranging from the Constitution of the Republic, the Family Code, the Childhood and Youth Code, the Penal Code, Decree-Law 64, which establishes a system for the care of minors.

“Childhood” and “youth” are other general terms to designate the period of life between the age of one and 18 and are usually defined by certain developmental and transitional events, such as rapid growth and the beginning of schooling.

The new Preliminary Draft of this juridical norm, has as all, an exposition of motives that in the Cuban case is contained in several explanatory quanta of why it is necessary a new Code that regulates the substantial aspects of childhood and youth.

The explanatory memorandum of the draft new Code reinforces the principle that the Cuban State has been a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child since January 26th, 1990, ratified on August 21st, 1991 and entered into force on September 20 of the same year after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba, and therefore forms part of the national legal system and is of obligatory observance and direct application in making decisions on the rights of children and adolescents, as provided in Article 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba.

The protection of children and adolescents, and the promotion of the integral development of youth, constitute fundamental objectives of the transformation of Cuban society, by combining social interest with their individual rights and interests; because they contribute to the formation of new generations and the satisfaction of profound human and social values, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 86 and 87 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba.

It must be reiterated that the comprehensive development of children, adolescents and young people is a cherished aspiration of the State, families and Cuban society, which act synchronously to form in children, adolescents and young people the values and principles of society, as well as the attributes and qualities that will enable them to fulfill their role as active participants and continuators of the revolutionary work.

Constitutionally, Article 86 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba recognizes children and adolescents as full subjects of rights, so they enjoy those established in the constitutional text itself and those that are inherent to them as developing persons; at the same time, it distinguishes them as recipients of special treatment based on the Cuban constitutional order.

Written by DR Osvaldo Manuel Álvarez Torres.