The UN extends for two years its mission that investigates human rights violations in Venezuela

( Spanish) – The UN Human Rights Council extended for two years the mandate of the organization’s mission that investigates “manifest violations” of human rights in Venezuela, according to a resolution published this Friday.

The text was approved with 23 votes in favor, 18 abstentions and six against (Algeria, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Sudan and Vietnam) and details that the UN team will be in charge of investigating complaints of extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, detentions arbitrary acts, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment committed since 2014, while paying special attention to the period before and after the controversial presidential elections last July, and the violence carried out by the so-called “collectives”, armed individuals who participate in acts of repression of the opposition to President Nicolás Maduro.

The text of the resolution expresses its alarm over “the continuous information that shows a worsening of human rights violations and transgressions in Venezuela.”
For its part, the Venezuelan government, which has always rejected the findings of the UN working group, rejected the renewal of the “irritating and illegitimate” mission. “It is a clear example of the way the institutions are going astray,” he said in a statement.

Venezuelan opponent Edmundo González said that the UN decision means “an important step,” and highlights that this mandate “has been key to documenting the serious human rights violations that affect our country.”

According to the country’s majority opposition, the former diplomat won the presidential elections with a wide advantage over Maduro, but the National Electoral Council, and later the Supreme Court of Justice, declared the current president the winner, although they have not published detailed results by center and polling station. vote.

For her part, opposition leader María Corina Machado described the decision as a “very important achievement” and thanked the support for “the fight for justice and democracy in Venezuela.”

The UN mission has been working in the country since 2019 and is made up of three people. His mandate had already been renewed in 2020 and 2022.