Cuban Parliament Committees Unanimously Approve Draft Bill on Code for Children, Adolescents, and Youth

The draft bill for the Code of Children, Adolescents, and Youth was unanimously approved today by the permanent committees of the Cuban Parliament on Youth, Childhood, and Equal Rights for Women, Constitutional and Legal Affairs, and Education, Culture, Science, Technology, and the Environment.

Arelys Santana Bello, president of the Committee on Youth, Childhood, and Equal Rights for Women, explained that the new legal text ensures the comprehensive development and protection of rights, recognizing children and adolescents as rights holders with the capacity to participate in matters that affect them.

Santana Bello highlighted that the code introduces the principle of progressive autonomy, already established in the Family Code, and reinforces the best interests of children and adolescents as the guiding criterion in all public or private decisions.

She noted that the draft incorporates a framework for effective equality, taking into account factors such as gender, disability, sexual orientation, skin color, and migratory status, while strengthening the prohibition of child labor and the protection against all forms of violence.

The document promotes active participation in the development of public policies, as well as in all administrative and judicial processes that affect minors, she added.

Meyvis Estévez Echevarría, First Secretary of the National Committee of the Union of Young Communists, stated that the code is value-driven, comprehensive, and humanistic. It provides rights, guarantees, and responsibilities for the respective age groups.

Estévez Echevarría acknowledged the efforts of those involved in the legislative process.

Yamila González, a deputy representing the municipality of Mantua in Pinar del Río, remarked that the draft goes beyond the scope of the Ministry of Education and pertains to society as a whole.

She emphasized that the bill offers an effective framework for ensuring rights are properly exercised and safeguarded.

The proposed law embodies the legacy of Vilma Espín Guillois (1930–2007), who dedicated her life to the comprehensive defense of the rights of children and youth, from a profoundly humanist, feminist, and revolutionary perspective.

Furthermore, it is a genuinely Cuban legal text that recognizes the rights of children, adolescents, and young people not as concessions, but as a reflection of a firm political will, aligned with the nation's history, Constitution, and social project.

Cuba is taking a decisive step toward consolidating a people-centered development model that places its youngest generations at the core of its future.

Present at today’s session were Naima Ariatne Trujillo Barreto, Minister of Education; Oscar Manuel Silvera Martínez, Minister of Justice; and José Luis Toledo Santander, president of the Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.

The draft Code of Children, Adolescents, and Youth will be submitted for approval during the Fifth Ordinary Session of the Cuban National Assembly of People's Power in its 10th Legislature, set to begin tomorrow at the Palace of Conventions in Havana.