UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk gives a press conference in Khartoum, Sudan, in November 2022. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
On Tuesday, during the 52nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, presented a distorted picture of Venezuela. Following the usual narratives launched by Washington, Türk claimed that severe human rights violations, misery and the struggle for survival in a precarious institutionalized environment mark Venezuela.
“Venezuela continued to face serious human rights challenges in the civil, political, economic and social spheres.” Türk continued, stating that he met people who told him about their daily struggle to survive. “They told of daily power cuts, the unavailability of water, and falling into debt, which caused many to suffer from anxiety and depression. There were more than 7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance on the ground in Venezuela. Some of the sanctions had exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities, and it was important to look at the lifting of these sanctions,” reads part of the statement on the UNHCHR website.
Although he positively evaluated the judicial reform in progress and the decriminalization of homosexuality within the Code of Military Justice, Türk claimed that there are arbitrary arrests, torture, femicides, restrictions on freedom of the press, deaths during security operations and discrimination towards the LGBTIQ+ population documented by his office. However, he did not offer concrete data to support the serious accusations.
#HRC52 | @volker_turk, chief, @UNHumanRights Office, updated the Human Rights Council on #Venezuela.
“Venezuela continues to face serious human rights challenges in the civil, political, economic and social spheres,” he said.
STATEMENT ▶ https://t.co/jcF4v9t4u6 pic.twitter.com/4LJlGBkk8U
— United Nations Human Rights Council | #HRC55 (@UN_HRC) March 21, 2023
“The upcoming review before the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will be an opportunity for Venezuela to align its restrictive laws on abortion to recommendations made by human rights mechanisms and my Office,” Türk added.
He also criticized the initiative to regulate the activity of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) currently advancing in the Venezuelan National Assembly, classifying it as a potential threat to human rights.
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Héctor Constant, permanent representative of Venezuela to the UN, criticized the high commissioner’s report on the human rights situation in Venezuela presented.
“We find it sad that the high commissioner is forced to talk about Venezuela under a resolution of this kind, which we have firmly rejected,” said Constant in his speech.
#HRC52 | Ambassador Héctor Constant Rosales of the Bolivarian Republic of #Venezuela spoke at the Human Rights Council during a dialogue on the human rights situation in his country. pic.twitter.com/3TkOReDlRc
— United Nations Human Rights Council | #HRC55 (@UN_HRC) March 21, 2023
He also recalled that in January, Türk visited the country with “broad freedom” to do his job without the authorities imposing limitations and allowing him to meet with social and political actors of all kinds.
Constant stressed that Caracas responded to the countries that promoted the approval of the new resolution to extend the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM) for two years several months ago with a letter of understanding, allowing the UN body to have an office in Caracas and operate freely in Venezuela. He added that Caracas took note of the statement and that the Venezuelan government would respond at the right time.
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Venezuela responds to US Human Rights “report”
Meanwhile, Venezuela categorical rejected the most recent human rights report issued by the United States Department of State. Venezuelan Foreign Minister of the Republic Yván Gil expressed the government’s condemnation of the report via social media on Tuesday, March 21.
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister wrote that “despite maintaining a permanent aggression against the rights of the Venezuelan people, the US Department of State intends to judge the actions of other governments,” referring to the US weaponization of human rights to attack governments not following its orders.
El Gobierno de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela rechaza el más reciente informe sobre DDHH del Dpto. de Estado de los EEUU, país que, a pesar de mantener una agresión permanente contra los derechos del pueblo venezolano, pretende calificar la actuación de otros gobiernos. pic.twitter.com/hifeDjJlHa
— Yvan Gil (@yvangil) March 21, 2023
An unofficial translation of the statement can be read below:
The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically rejects the most recent report on human rights from the Department of State of the United States of America, a country that, despite maintaining a permanent aggression against the rights of the Venezuelan people, intends to judge the actions of other governments.
A state that, exactly 20 years ago, launched one of the most brutal invasions in the history of mankind against the Iraqi people, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, implementing methods of torture and using weapons of war against civilians, cynically tries to lecture the rest of humanity on how to safeguard human rights. This just shows that, for the US government, human rights are simply a tool used for political expediency based on distorted narratives.
Once again, this report is published to attack sovereign countries whose decisions are not made with Washington’s consent, while the United States, domestically, fails to contain the growing poverty, fails to mitigate the brutality of institutionalized police racism, fails to abandon arbitrary measures to deprive undocumented migrants of their freedom, and continues to apply illegal and unilateral coercive measures against at least 30% of the world population.
While disqualifying other nations, the United States has not signed or ratified important agreements such as the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the Rome Statute; the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, among others. Meanwhile, the main architects of criminal wars, such as the one in Iraq, enjoy total impunity.
The Bolivarian Government, despite the permanent attacks by the United States and its accomplices, continues to defend the economic, political and social rights of the entire population and will continue to comply with its multilateral commitments to guarantee a dignified life for all its citizens.
Caracas, March 20, 2023
According to experts, this new US “report” is nothing more than a repetition of the typical narratives launched by Washington to undermine Venezuela’s constitutional order and delegitimize the recurrent electoral victories of Chavismo in recent years despite the multiform war launched against the Venezuelan people with illegal sanctions and blockade.
“The regime of Nicolas Maduro claims control over all public institutions… The European Union was allowed to act as election observer for the first time in 15 years, but the Maduro regime asked its observers to leave the country before they could present their final report,” states the report. “Increasingly unpopular with citizens, the Maduro regime depended on civilian and military intelligence services, and to a lesser extent, pro-regime armed gangs known as colectivos, to neutralize political opposition and subdue the population… Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings by regime forces; forced disappearances by the regime; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by security forces… The Maduro regime took no effective action to meaningfully identify, investigate, prosecute, or punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses or engaged in corruption,” the report continues. The US Department of State highlighted these points in the executive summary of the report that, according to international analysts, looks more like a political pamphlet.
The statements by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and the publication of the new US Department of State “report” on human rights in Venezuela are seemingly synchronized and take resemblant tones. These similarities have led Venezuelan political analysts to consider whether they might have been agreed upon by the two actors beforehand.
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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