IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Observes Persistent Human Rights Issues in Venezuela
April 5, 2019
IACHR Press and Communication Office
Tel: +1 (202) 370-9000
[email protected]
Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) observes with concern the constant harassment against human
rights defenders and medical staff in Venezuela, as well as the
impact that frequent power cuts and the ongoing social and political
crisis are having on the Venezuelan people.
The IACHR is still receiving information about constant harassment
against human rights defenders, civil society organizations and journalists
who report human rights violations. According to the information provided by
human rights organizations, a renewed escalation of harassment patterns has
been observed since March 11, 2018, following stigmatizing comments made by
authorities of the State on several conventional and social media. Based on
the reports the Commission has had access to, at least five people who had
previously been portrayed in a negative light in TV programs have been
arrested a without warrant. The IACHR stresses that comments to stigmatize
human rights defenders may contribute to exacerbating the atmosphere of
hostility and intolerance they face among certain social groups, which could
affect the lives and personal integrity of those defenders and increase
their vulnerability. The IACHR therefore calls on the State to end
selective, arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders.
The Commission was recently informed of repression conducted against
healthcare professionals, university teachers and medical students at both
undergraduate and postgraduate levels who work in hospitals operated by the
public healthcare system and have been documenting and denouncing the
country’s ongoing humanitarian emergency. In particular, based on the
information obtained by the Commission, police and military officers and
members of informal armed groups known as “colectivos” attacked medical
staff who stood up for their rights in hospitals during a visit from the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). At
least six Health Science university students have seen their right to
education violated and have been expelled from the hospital facilities where
they worked in disregard of due process. In that context, the IACHR
expresses a profound concern about the use of the State’s punitive powers to
discourage, punish or prevent the exercise of the rights to protest, freedom
of expression, peaceful assembly, and social and political participation in
the broadest sense, and the right to education. The Commission asks the
State to stop criminalizing peaceful protests.
The Commission and its Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social,
Cultural, and Environmental Rights (SRESCER) stress their concern about the
serious impact on the human rights of the country’s residents of the
blackout that started on March 7, 2019 and continued intermittently until
approximately March 13, 2019, and that again affected at least 20 Venezuelan
states on March 26-31, 2019. The IACHR calls on the State to immediately
address this crisis and to seek ways to counter the effects of the lack of
electricity so the power supply may be restored. In particular, the
Commission and its SRESCER highlight the serious impact that sustained,
persistent power cuts may have on the rights to health and even life of some
hospital patients, increasing the risks they face as a consequence of the
persisting shortage of medication and medical supplies, ill-functioning
equipment, poorly maintained facilities and short staffing in the healthcare
sector. The situation is made worse by the lack of a regular supply of water
and sanitation services, which can have serious consequences for the right
to food (particularly among children, adolescents, older persons and persons
which certain illnesses and medical conditions) and even the right to work,
as a result of the reduced workday announced by the government to address
this issue.
The IACHR and its SRESCER observe with concern that power cuts caused a
significant halt in academic activity in March. According to the information
provided to the Commission by civil society organizations, primary and
secondary school students only had six days of school in March 2019.
Concerning higher education institutions, the Commission was informed that
autonomous universities had to cancel their activities after every blackout
and that no reports have been issued to date about the number of days when
they remained closed or about any plans to make up for cancelled academic
activities.
The IACHR and its SRESCER stress that the right to education is widely
regarded as the symbol of the indivisibility and interdependence of all
human rights, since it acts as a catalyst to build critical citizens who are
able and willing to participate in the development of individuals and
societies and to influence such development. In higher education, the
academic freedom of teachers and students and the autonomy of institutions
are crucial pillars to strengthen democratic structures and prevent
politically driven pressures and interventions. The Commission further
stresses that the right to education mitigates the psychosocial impact of
situations of emergency or conflict, braces the ability to help people
affected by crisis contexts and provides tools to develop stability and to
rebuild social networks.
The IACHR also stresses its concern about the closure of border crossings
between Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil that was decreed by the Venezuelan
State on February 22, 2019, and about the impact that such measures can have
on any given person’s right to leave their country’s territory and to seek
and obtain asylum. The Commission again calls on the State to take any
measures necessary to restore border crossings and to protect all persons’
right to leave Venezuela’s territory and to request and obtain asylum or
subsidiary protection.
In this context, the IACHR expresses its concern about the many difficulties and hurdles faced by Venezuelans to obtain or renew passports, as well as to be issued documents including ID cards, birth certificates, certificates of live birth and records of past criminal activity, and to apostille documents. The IACHR continues to receive information that indicates that Venezuelans face various difficulties to obtain or renew such documents. The Commission asks the Venezuelan State to protect the rights to recognition of juridical personality and to an identity by promptly issuing such documents, and to ensure the Venezuelan people’s access to and enjoyment of other rights in Venezuela and in other countries in the region.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 091/19