A Cuban diplomat stated this Wednesday at the United Nations, during a session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), that the military service on the island is "voluntary," emphasizing that in Cuba, children are neither recruited nor will they be recruited.
"Our National Defense Law is clear when it refers to three fundamental premises: the first is that citizens of both sexes who wish to and express their desire openly can voluntarily join military service," said Yisel González García, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), thereby denying the obligation of Active Military Service and misrepresenting the content of the law, where the mandatory nature for males is explicitly stated.
González García avoided answering the Committee's question directly regarding the age of military recruitment in Cuba, which begins when recruits are minors, and chose to emphasize “the certainty that in Cuba, children are not recruited and will not be recruited.”
“I must point out that due to the absence of armed conflicts in Cuba, there is no direct connection between the young people fulfilling military service and combat actions,” the diplomat asserted at another moment during her elusive intervention.
The diplomat, introduced as the second secretary of the National Directorate of Multilateral Affairs and International Law of MINREX, was one of the last members of the official Cuban delegation to respond to the concerns of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is currently reviewing Cuba in Geneva.
González García overlooked that in his Section Three (Article 77) the National Defense Law states that “male citizens, during the year they turn sixteen, are required to formalize their registration in the military registry,” and that “once registered in the military registry, citizens are obligated to undertake activities aimed at preparing them for incorporation into military service and to keep their status duly updated.”
Only those who - in accordance with Articles 65 and 67 of the aforementioned law - are declared unfit for service by authorized medical boards formed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) for that purpose are exempt from recruitment.
According to the National Defense Law, male citizens are required to serve in the Military Service for a period of two years. In the case of those who obtain a university placement, this period is reduced by half, but it remains mandatory.
In recent years, medical students have been exceptionally exempted.
In the case of women, it is known as Volunteer Military Service for Women - in this case, indeed voluntary - and it is an option that some women choose in order to pursue a university degree, as the so-called Order 18 of the FAR allows them to pursue university studies as long as they have completed secondary education.
In 2019, the Cuban military courts established penalties for military recruits who self-harm to be discharged, a practice that has been common in recent decades with no shortage of unfortunate incidents resulting from it.
The mandatory military service has been systematically criticized by Cubans; however, recruitment did not stop even during the coronavirus pandemic, something that was severely criticized by the public.
In April 2021, in his report to the VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Raúl Castro stated that the imposition of Active Military Service was being studied for young people of both sexes who wish to enter university courses, as well as limiting political positions for those who have not fulfilled such a requirement.
He indicated that the measure would respond to the aging population of the island and, therefore, to the decrease in citizens of legal age to join the armed forces.
Military service has been mandatory in Cuba since June 1963, and this requirement was reaffirmed with the approval of the 1976 Constitution, which led to the enactment of the laws that govern it.
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