No exceptional measure in Venezuela should be upheld at the expense of basic human rights

This examination comes right when a number of human rightsorganizations, including the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and COFAVIC, aredenouncing growing restrictions on individual and collective rights in thecountry.

Tensions have risen a notch higher throughout Venezuela since the Governmentdeclared the state of emergency on 13 May 2016, granting sweeping powers to the Executive, and blocked on 20 October 2016 the opposition’s signaturedrive for a referendum to recall President Nicolás Maduro.

On 26 October 2016, opposition-led rallies against the impeachment’ssuspension were met with excessive use of force by law enforcement andpro-Government armed groups, with dozens of injured and 97 persons detained,according to the Prosecutor’s Office. In 2014, following the protests that tookplace from February to June, leaving 43 people dead and 878 injured, theCommittee Against Torture (CAT) said it was alarmed by “consistent reports ofacts of torture and ill-treatment inflicted on persons arrested during thedemonstrations, with acts including beatings, electric shocks, burns, choking,sexual assaults and threats”.

In light of this context and ahead of the upcoming UPR of Venezuela,OMCT and COFAVIC submitted a joint report presenting key human rights concerns in the country. In particular, thereport highlights the current militarization of law enforcement, as obvious insecurity operations such as the OLP, or “Operación Liberación y Protección delPueblo”, and regulations such as Resolution No. 8610, allowing the use of lethalweapons to control protests; the increase of extrajudicial killings andarbitrary arrests; as well as the total absence of convictions oflaw-enforcement agents following acts of torture and ill-treatment committed inthe framework of the 2014 protests.

Among the recommendations set out in thejoint report, OMCT and COFAVIC call on UN Member States to urge Venezuela to:

- ensure that any allegations of torture, ill-treatment andextrajudicial killing by law enforcement officers are investigated ex officioin a prompt, thorough and impartial manner and the alleged perpetrators areprosecuted, tried and punish with sentences commensurate with the gravity oftheir acts;

- guarantee that the law enforcement bodies and related agencies workingon public safety have a strictly civilian and professional character at alllevels, as stipulated in article 332 of the State party’s Constitution, andamend any legislation, regulations and plans that authorize the participationof the military in the maintenance of public order, including the OLP and the ResolutionNo. 8610;

- remove barriers that facilitate impunity including the concealment ofthe identity of law enforcement officers, the criminalization andtrivialization of victims and the modification of police reports;

- ensure that no individual or group is publicly discredited, threatenedor subjected to physical or other abuse for carrying out human rights workincluding vis-à-vis the UN human rights bodies and the Inter-American HumanRights System;

- ensure that all obstacles to women’s access to justice and protectionfrom violence are removed, strengthening the special courts dealing withviolence against women and ensuring victims’ access to protection measuresincluding shelters;

- ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture,Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

- cooperate fully with UN Treaty Bodies, in particular the CAT, in theimplementation of their recommendations and decisions, and with Specialprocedures, allowing outstanding requests for visits and encouraging the issuanceof standing invitations.

Contacts:

OMCTInternational Secretariat, Tel. +41 (0) 22 809 49 39, omct@omct.org