Venezuela Suspends Activities of UN Human Rights Office in Caracas Due to ‘Colonialist Attitude’

The Venezuelan minister for foreign affairs, Yván Gil, has held a press conference to announce the decision to suspend the activities of the Technical Advisory Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Caracas, Venezuela.

Minister Gil read a statement this Thursday, February 15, that explained the reasons behind the decision, noting that the office “has been co-opted as an international sounding board to maintain a discourse against the Venezuelan government and the people of Venezuela.” Gil took care to highlight the fact that Venezuela will continue to cooperate with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, clarifying, “this is an administrative decision that suspends the collaboration and operation of this particular office, because it has deviated from its mandate.”

On February 13, the UN body publicly claimed that the far-right NGOist and lawyer Rocío San Miguel, detained by law enforcement agencies for allegedly being involved in the conspiratorial events known as “White Bracelet,” had a so-called “unknown” whereabouts which would thus classify her detention (according to them) as “forced disappearance,” and urged “for her immediate release and respect for her right to legal defense.”

Venezuela will continue to cooperate
The top diplomat announced that a comprehensive review of the terms of cooperation signed specifically with the office will be carried out in the next 30 days, and that the assigned personnel are requested to leave the country in the next 72 hours, unless a public rectification is made before the international community of the OHCHR’s colonialist and abusive attitude and their violations of the United Nations Charter.

#EnVideo📹| Canciller @yvangil, expresó que desde el año 1999, los DD. HH. han sido usados para desarrollar campañas contra el Gobierno Bolivariano, del pueblo de Venezuela, de sus movimientos sociales y populares.#SomosPatriaJusta pic.twitter.com/rMsWngyMJj
— MIPPCI (@Mippcivzla) February 15, 2024

“Venezuela will continue to interact with all international bodies that are truly dedicated to the protection of human rights,” Gil stated, “and will continue to fulfill its commitments as a member of the United Nations and as a promoter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 in all its parts. Without hesitation, Venezuela does not have double standards.”

Coup and terrorist groups lobbyist
The statement read by Gil points out that the decision “was taken due to the improper role that this institution has developed, which, far from showing it as an impartial entity, has led it to become the private law firm of coup plotters and terrorist groups that permanently collude against the country.”

The publication further highlights Venezuela’s call to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to resume respect for international legality, and reiterates its willingness to continue cooperating with all other international mechanisms for the protection of human rights.

Office in Caracas
Previously, Gil recalled that cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights began on September 20, 2019, upon instructions from President Nicolás Maduro, after which it was agreed to open an office in Caracas to show the world the progress of human rights in Venezuela, and also show strict compliance with Venezuela’s respect for human rights.

The office has thirteen officials, with whom, Minister Gil explained, the greatest collaboration and cooperation has been provided, including “access to the mechanisms of Public Power, to the State security agencies, to justice, to the Prosecutor’s Office, without restrictions of any kind.”

Resolution 48-141
The Venezuelan foreign minister added that one of the points repeatedly violated by the Technical Advisory Office of the UN High Commissioner in Caracas is the one referring to respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and internal jurisdiction of the State, established in Resolution 48.-141.

Gil said “it is public and notorious” and demonstrated through many communications, statements, and opinions of the Technical Advisory Office of the UN High Commissioner in the country, of its pressures that “seek to create a kind of guardianship over institutions of the public power, such as the Prosecutor’s Office, the National Assembly, the National Executive, and the courts.”

“This is simply tolerable in no State,” said Gil, “because we are part of the United Nations, and this office follows a mandate from the countries that are part of the United Nations.” He added that the office “cannot rely on personal and subjective opinions about certain facts that call into question the correct actions of the institutions.”

He questioned the double standards of the Technical Advisory Office of the UN High Commissioner, “which only supports the extreme right and protects people who have tried to subvert the constitutional order and generate widespread violence in Venezuela.” The minister further noted that Venezuela will take it upon itself to demonstrate to the world that the actions of the extreme right directly violate the human rights of the Venezuelan people.

State in defense of the rights of the people
Gil recalled that in the name of the flag of human rights, campaigns have been carried out against the government of Venezuela, which have not given up since 1999 and the beginning of Chavismo.

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“Venezuela, in these 25 years, has consolidated a revolutionary state in defense of the rights of the people,” he added, “and that state gives total guarantees to the protection of each and every Venezuelan in their comprehensive rights.”

Below, you can read the full unofficial translation of the statement published by the minister for foreign affairs:

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela announces its decision to suspend the activities of the Technical Advisory Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Venezuela and carry out a comprehensive review of the terms of technical cooperation described in the Letter of Understanding signed with said office in the next 30 days, which is why it requests that the personnel assigned to this office leave the country in the next 72 hours until they publicly rectify before the international community for their colonialist, abusive and United Nations Charter’s violation.

This decision is made due to the improper role that this institution has developed, which, far from showing it as an impartial entity, has led it to become the private law firm of coup plotters and terrorist groups that permanently conspire against the country.

Since the signing of the aforementioned Letter of Understanding, the Office of the High Commissioner has maintained a clearly biased and partial position, constantly seeking to generate impunity for people involved in various assassination attempts, coups d’état, conspiracies, and other serious attacks against the sovereignty and the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, despite the damage that this type of criminal practices can generate on the peace and coexistence of a society.

Faced with this improper action, Venezuelan institutions have proceeded with patience and through dialogue, trying, again and again, to redirect the actions of the Office of the High Commissioner towards respect for the truth, international legality, and the norms that govern the treatment of human rights issues.

However, the Office of the High Commissioner has exacerbated its attacks against Venezuela, just at a time when the world is witnessing the genocidal barbarism committed against the Palestinian people, in a context of total impunity favored by the inaction of this international bureaucracy., which without condemning these events or requesting an immediate ceasefire, remains pathetic and inert in the face of the murder of more than 10,000 Palestinian children.

On the other hand, this Office of the High Commissioner is very active in falsifying facts and prequalifying situations concerning Venezuela, only to attack the sovereignty and self-determination of the country with lies, falsifications, disinformation, and manipulations.

With this performance, typical of the formulas of judicial colonialism, the Office of the High Commissioner not only violates the Charter of the United Nations but also flagrantly fails to comply with the obligations contained in the Letter of Understanding signed with Venezuela and in the Resolution 48/141 of the UN General Assembly, according to which the High Commissioner must “respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and internal jurisdiction of states.”

Venezuela calls on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to resume respect for international legality, while reiterating its willingness to continue cooperating with international mechanisms for the protection of human rights, always on the basis of genuine dialogue and in strict adherence to the principles of objectivity, non-selectivity, impartiality, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.

Caracas, February 15, 2024

(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/AU