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(CNN Spanish) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, offered an oral update on the human rights situation in Venezuela on Wednesday and presented the commission's support plans.
The office of the high commissioner made visits to several prisons and interviewed a group of persons deprived of liberty in the context of the political and social crisis that the country is going through.
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“My office has documented 118 cases of persons deprived of liberty (109 men and nine women), who require an urgent response for health reasons, judicial delays, lack of execution of judicial release ballots, and / or lack of release for compliance with penalty ”, detailed Bachelet.
The high commissioner emphasized the case of opposition deputy Juan Requesens, arrested in 2018, charged with seven crimes, after being reported to be allegedly involved in the assassination attempt denounced by the government of President Nicolás Maduro and which occurred on August 4 .
Requens has defended his innocence and his family categorizes his detention as a "kidnapping." Bachelet considers the Requesens case as an arbitrary detention and requested that the deputy be granted full freedom.
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To address the human rights situation, Bachelet explained that he signed with the Venezuelan Government Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, a letter of understanding formalizing the presence of two human rights officers in the country, granting them access to the entire territory, including to detention centers.
The letter also establishes nine areas of technical cooperation with state institutions, including collaboration with the United Nations system in the country.
Bachelet reported that a joint work plan was agreed to develop technical cooperation activities in the field of human rights that will be implemented by an Inter-Institutional Coordination Committee and said that in the second half of 2020 it will create “a national plan to follow up recommendations for international human rights mechanisms and the adoption of a methodology for the formulation of the Second National Human Rights Plan ”.
(Credit: CRISTIAN HERNANDEZ / AFP via Getty Images)
Also "as of the first quarter of 2020, technical assistance in the area of torture prevention, investigations of extrajudicial executions and the situation regarding pretrial detention centers."
The high commissioner reiterated that the economic and social situation continues to affect economic and social rights. He also stressed that the failures of public services continue, especially in the state of Zulia.
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“My Office made a visit to Maracaibo in which it verified the very long lines to buy fuel and the prolonged and repeated cuts of electricity, which also affect the water supply. The rights to health and education have also been affected, mainly due to lack of personnel, poor infrastructure and lack of inputs. Thousands of Zulians have migrated abroad or to the capital of the country, ”Bachelet described.
The risk situation of children and adolescents is worrisome, said Bachelet. “During the month of November, Caritas reported that, in the poorest parishes of 19 states in the country, 11.9% of children show signs of acute malnutrition - a 56% increase in contrast to 2018 - and that 32.6% have growth retardation. Caritas also reported that 48.5% of pregnant women served have nutritional deficiencies, ”said the high commissioner.
The office of the high commissioner estimates that due to the situation in the South American country, some 6.5 million people will have migrated at the end of 2020. “I am concerned about the increase in irregular migration due, on the one hand, to the greater requirements of entry to some countries of transit and destination, but also, due to the difficulties that Venezuelan people are facing in obtaining their travel documentation, ”said Bachelet.
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Bachelet also reported that his office sees with concern the harassment against opposition representatives, including the president of the National Assembly, and the restriction of public liberties.
The high commissioner concluded her message by calling for a renewal of negotiations "to reach a solution to the political and economic crisis and restore hope to the population."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michellelle Bachelet Human rights violations