Venezuela: Bachelet calls on Government to release prisoners
In Venezuela, Bachelet calls on Government to release prisoners, appeals for ‘bold steps towards compromise’
22 June
2019
Human
Rights
Speaking at the end of the
first-ever official mission to Venezuela by a UN human
rights chief, Michelle Bachelet called on the
Government to release all those detained for peacefully
protesting and announced that a team from her office would
remain in Caracas to monitor the human rights situation.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights arrived
in the beleagured South American nation on Wednesday at the
invitation of the Government of Nicolas Maduro, having
expressed deep concern in an address to the Human Rights
Council in March, over the country’s
“dramatically” deteriorating rights situation overall,
and the “continued criminalization of peaceful protest and
dissent”.
Speaking to reporters on Friday night at
the Maiquetia international airport, Ms. Bachelet – a
former two-term president of Chile – said the Government
had agreed the new OHCHR team would provide technical help
and advice and “continue to monitor the human rights
situation in Venezuela.”
“In my meetings with
victims and their families, their deep yearning for justice
for grave human rights violations was made painfully
clear”, she said. “I sincerely hope that our assessment,
advice and assistance will help strengthen torture
prevention and access to justice in Venezuela. The
Government has also agreed that my team will be guaranteed
full access to detention centres to be able to monitor
conditions and speak to detainees.”
She met President
Maduro and other senior ministers, as well as the opposition
leader, Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president
in January, sparking a deepening political crisis in the
deeply divided country, which has now seen more than 4
million Venezuelans flee across the border.
“I also
met victims of human rights violations and their
families”, said Ms. Bachelet. “The man who told of his
brother’s torture, humiliation and killing by hooded FAES
security officers in a raid on his house – and the many
other heartbroken families whose loved ones suffered a
similar fate...The mother whose 14-year-old child was shot
during demonstrations on 30 April this year. People who
suffered horrific torture in detention.”
She said she
had also met “victims of violence against Government
supporters. A mother whose young son, a Government
supporter, was set on fire during the 2017 protests and
spent 15 agonising days in hospital before he died.”
All had testified to “how astonishingly the
humanitarian situation in Venezuela has deteriorated,
including with regards to the rights to food, water,
healthcare, education and other economic and social rights."
Around 75 per cent of the national budget is now going
on social programmes for all, she said, “however, we have
heard from Venezuelans who are fully employed – many in
the public sector – who have difficulty affording medicine
and adequate food.”
Healthcare collapse 'extremely
critical'
The human rights chief said the health
situation “continues to be extremely critical”, citing
rising costs, lack of availability of medicines, and a rise
now in teenage pregnancies, with maternal and newborn
mortality rates also ticking up.
“I have called on the
Government to ensure that essential data related to
healthcare and other economic and social rights is made
available to enable all actors to accurately assess and seek
to adequately manage the situation”, she said.
Highlighting a recent strengthening of UN agencies on
the ground, she said she had discussed the need to address
the causes of the multiple crises, while also expressing
concern at the crippling effect of sanctions imposed by the
United States on oil exports, and gold trading, which “are
exacerbating and aggravating the pre-existing economic
crisis.”
She called on leaders “across the
spectrum” to find a way to ease the suffering of the
people: “The crises can only be resolved through the
meaningful, sincere participation and inclusion of actors
from various sectors of society.”
“The fate of
more than 30 million Venezuelans rests upon the
leadership’s willingness and ability to put the human
rights of the people ahead of any personal, ideological or
political ambitions”, she said, adding that she understood
the mood of national scepticism, after years of decay and
turmoil, that any political compromise is possible.
“Holding firmly to entrenched positions on either side
will only escalate the crisis – and the people of
Venezuela cannot afford further deterioration of the
situation in the country” said Ms. Bachelet.
“I call for bold steps towards compromise, to set
aside short-term wins for medium-term and long-term gains
for the entire country”, she added, with reference to
discussions between Government and opposition, underway in
Norway. “The talks can succeed, as long as they are
inclusive and those involved respond to the very real
urgency to ensure their success.”