The Daily Journal – Venezuela’s delegation to the United Nations in Geneva on Friday highlighted improvements in the country’s human rights situation since the beginning of the year, including the approval of an amnesty law and the release of as many as 8,743 detainees, and called on the UN not to extend the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela.
Enzo Bitteto, minister counselor at Venezuela’s Mission to the UN, questioned the mechanism’s impartiality during remarks before the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“That mechanism, established and extended without the consent or cooperation of the Venezuelan state, has raised serious concerns regarding subjectivity, impartiality and non-selectivity,” he said.
Bitteto asked the mission to present a new report on the country’s human rights situation. The report acknowledges some improvements but warns that the main structures of repression remain “intact.”
The Venezuelan representative also questioned the methodology behind both previous reports and the latest one, arguing that they “rely on secondary and tertiary sources and methodologies that, in our country’s view, raise questions.”
The mission, which the UN Human Rights Council created in 2019, has previously accused senior Venezuelan officials of alleged crimes against humanity.
For her part, Sofía Macher, the Peruvian expert who chairs the fact-finding mission, said the mission had found insufficient evidence of a genuine break from the repressive practices that characterized Nicolás Maduro’s government.
“They have not found sufficient evidence of a genuine and sustainable break from President Maduro’s government and the patterns of repression that characterized that period,” Macher told the Council.
The expert said the continued presence of civilian and military officials linked to repression signals that the repressive apparatus remains operational and continues to influence high-level decision-making.
“Perhaps the clearest indication that the repressive apparatus remains functional and continues to affect high-level decision-making in the country is the continued presence of actors and perpetrators of repression within the civilian and military hierarchy,” she added.
Macher acknowledged a significant decline in politically motivated arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances. However, she warned of an increase in short-term arrests and noted that allegations of torture continue to emerge from several detention centers.
She also said hundreds of people remain in detention for political reasons.
The mission’s chair said Venezuela has an opportunity to move toward lasting human rights improvements but stressed that such progress requires institutional and legal reforms.
“Sustainable change in the human rights situation, and genuine progress in restoring the rule of law and democratic governance, require reform of the institutions and laws linked to the political repression of the past decade,” she concluded.
With information from EFE
