Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil announced on Thursday that he would “suspend the activities” of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the country, and ordered its staff to leave within 72 hours.
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“We regret this announcement and are assessing the next actions to be taken. We continue to work with the authorities and other stakeholders. Our guiding principle has been and continues to be to promote and protect the human rights of the Venezuelan people,” responded OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, headed by Volker Türk, had previously expressed “deep concern” about “urging his immediate release and respect for his right to defense.”
Minister Gilles denounced “the inappropriate role that this institution has developed, which, far from presenting itself as a neutral entity, has led it to become a special office for coup plotters and terrorists who constantly plot against the country.”
He added that the suspension will remain in effect “until they publicly correct their offensive colonial stance that violates the United Nations Charter before the international community.”
Ms. San Miguel, who has dual Venezuelan and Spanish citizenship, faces charges of “treason,” “terrorism,” and “conspiracy,” because she is “directly linked” to an attack aimed at assassinating President Nicolas Maduro, according to Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek. William Saab, who on Tuesday criticized “the fierce campaign launched from abroad against justice and the Venezuelan state.”
The European Union and the United States also expressed their “concern” about the fate of the lawyer, director of a non-governmental organization and specialist in military issues, who was arrested on February 9 at Caracas airport. Her ex-husband was also arrested in this conspiracy case for which 19 people were arrested.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Venezuela was established in 2019, under the leadership of former Head of the Commission Michelle Bachelet. Its main function is to “provide support for the effective implementation of the recommendations made” in the reports submitted by the High Commissioner to the Human Rights Council.
Since 2019, at least six reports have been issued on the situation in Venezuela.
Volker Türk visited Venezuela in January 2023, at the invitation of Caracas, and spoke with President Nicolas Maduro to discuss the human rights situation in the country.
Mr. Türk and his accompanying delegation also met with NGOs, civil society representatives and victims who condemned “systematic violations.”
“Wave of repression”
Also in 2019, the UN Human Rights Council, a UN intergovernmental body made up of 47 countries, established an independent fact-finding mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
In its report on Tuesday, the mission condemned the “wave of repression against opponents” that is escalating in the country.
According to the head of the fact-finding mission, Marta Valinas, “These are not isolated incidents, but rather a series of events that appear to be part of a coordinated plan to silence critics and alleged opponents.”
Francisco Cox, a member of the mission, said: “The Venezuelan state violated the human rights of dozens of people by investigating groups of alleged conspirators, and depriving those investigated, detained and prosecuted of the most basic rights.”
“If the state has the right to investigate, it must do so with full respect for human rights and without committing international crimes,” he added, noting in particular the “arrests and threats of arrest of members of the National Primary Committee, as well as” activists in the political party that won the primaries. opposition, depriving political leaders, including opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, of public office.
