A/HRC/11/22* granted by Cuba to these Ukrainian children. With regard to the educational system, Ukraine asked Cuba to provide more information on the University for elderly people. 112. Responding to questions, Cuba expressed that it should be understood the country is submitted to the policy of hostility, blockade and aggressions that has been implemented for more than 50 years by successive United States administrations. The declared objective of that policy has been the so-called “regime change”. The Cuban people have been required to adopt and enforce the laws necessary to defend its freedom, independence and self-determination, which include an antidote law, applied under exceptional circumstances, to cope with the acts of collaboration with the Helms-Burton Act. 113. The domestic legislation in force includes severe measures to prevent any arbitrary detention as well as to prosecute and convict the responsible in case such actions may occur. All citizens in Cuba are granted equal rights and duties. 114. In Cuba there are no prisoners of conscience. All those who are serving their sentences in prison have been previously prosecuted with all the guarantees of the due process. Among them there are a few agents to the service of the United States. They are paid and used by the United States as tools of its anti-Cuban policy. 115. In Cuba, the human rights defenders are respected and exercise their rights without discrimination of any kind. 116. The Cuban state is the guarantor of promotion and protection of the human rights of all its citizens. No-one is harassed, detained or punished for exercising, enjoying or defending human rights. 117. All inmates receive adequate medical assistance. No inmate suffers from any medical condition that is incompatible with the prison system they are submitted to. Whenever that has been the case, a prison leave has always been granted. 118. In Cuba, freedom of expression is guaranteed. The material conditions to exercise it are made easier by the fact that the press, the radio, the television, the movies, and all other mass media are owned by the people. Those media can not in any way be a private property. This ensures that they are exclusively used in the interest of the working people and the society as a whole. 119. Cuban State guarantees the exercise of the right of association so that citizens are able to carry out a diverse kind of activities for the benefit of the society. Cuba has 2,238 such organizations. In 2008, 33 new associations were registered. 120. The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba affects, among other things, the access to Internet, with restrictions that derive from bandwidth limitations; the serious obstacles that hinder the acquisition of the required technologies and the high connectivity costs. At present, access is only possible via satellite, because the United States government imposes restrictions on the use of alternative connections. There is a political will to expand the access to the Internet by all Cubans. 121. Since the blockade was imposed 50 years ago, until May 2008, the direct economic damages caused by the application of the blockade surpassed 93 billion dollars. 122. Social Security in Cuba is conceived as a comprehensive and harmonious system, with universal coverage that includes security in the work location, in income, in working conditions, in the prioritized attention to maternity, persons with disabilities, seniors, victims of natural disasters, and all those people that need it. More than 2 million citizens receive monetary loans, in kind and in services, from the social security system. GE.09-16273 21