Michelle Bachelet: “Since September, we have witnessed 93 incidents related to the civic space of Venezuela, including threats”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, presented a new oral update on the human rights situation in Venezuela.

As part of the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council, he said: “Since September last year, when he last updated until today, we have seen 93 incidents related to the civic space of Venezuela, including threats.”

He added that “the reform of the judicial system and the restructuring of the police are promising steps, as are measures to combat prison overcrowding. These reforms need to be implemented immediately,” he asked.

In another order, he said that “the recent conclusion of a memorandum of understanding with the Criminal Court Prosecutor's Office is an excellent opportunity for the Venezuelan government's commitment” to human rights. He also said, “We continue to observe the challenges to due process.”

“I reiterate that all persons arbitrarily detained must be released and that due process must be guaranteed. They need to have adequate medical care,” he said.

Subsequently, he said that he continued to be concerned about the prosecution of members of the NGO Fundaredes. “Its director is still in detention and his health is worrying,” he said.

Bachelet also referred to the need to “strengthen dialogue” between all actors in society and said that “it is encouraging to know the discussions for the resumption of negotiations between the government and the opposition.”

With regard to freedom of expression, his office documented “the closure of at least eight radio stations” and the blocking of access to various websites.

“I continue to be concerned about the lack of availability of public information,” she said, while also expressing her unease at the fact that national budgets have not been published since 2018.

Finally, he devoted a few lines to armed violence on the border with Colombia: “The presence of non-state armed actors has increased violence on the border with Colombia. The clashes have resulted in the forced displacement of hundreds of Venezuelans,” he said.

In her previous report, the former president of Chile detailed that the system of abuse and torture applied by the Nicolás Maduro regime to the population but, above all, to the dissent of the opposition, is still in force in Venezuela.

Ahead of Thursday's session at the UN, Tamara Taraciuk Broner, director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, said the meeting represents an opportunity for member states of the Human Rights Council to denounce the three simultaneous human rights crises unfolding in Venezuela: repression, humanitarian emergency and the migration crisis.

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