Human rights in Venezuela
The record of human rights in Venezuela has been criticized by human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Concerns include attacks against journalists, political persecution, harassment of human rights defenders, poor prison conditions, torture, extrajudicial executions by death squads, and forced disappearances.[1][2][3]
According to the Human Rights Watch report of 2017, under the leadership of President Hugo Chávez and now President Nicolás Maduro, the accumulation of power in the executive branch and erosion of human rights guarantees have enabled the government to intimidate, persecute, and even criminally prosecute its critics.[4] The report added that other persistent concerns include poor prison conditions, impunity for human rights violations, and continuous harassment by government officials of human rights defenders and independent media outlets.[4] The report continues that in 2016, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) detained dozens of people on allegations of planning, promoting, or participating in violent anti-government actions, including some that were, in fact, peaceful protests. Many say they have been tortured or otherwise abused in custody, or that they were unable to see their families or lawyers for hours, occasionally days, after an arrest. In several cases, prosecutors failed to present any credible evidence linking the accused to crimes. In some, the evidence included possession of political materials, including pamphlets calling for the release of political prisoners.[4] According to the Amnesty International report from 2016/2017 human rights defenders continued to be targeted with attacks and intimidation by state media and high-ranking government officials.[5]
Since 2014, the enduring crisis in Venezuela has resulted in hyperinflation, an economic depression, shortages of basic goods, and drastic increases in unemployment, poverty, disease, child mortality, malnutrition, and crime. According to the Amnesty International, the crisis in Venezuela has reached a “breaking point”, with 75% of citizens suffering from weight loss due to shortage of food. According to the International Monetary Fund, the unemployment rate has reached 34.3%.[6]
In 2006, Economist Intelligence Unit rated Venezuela as a "hybrid regime" with an index of 5.42 out of 10. The country was ranked 93 out of 167 countries, and the third-least democratic in Latin America after Cuba and Haiti.[7] In the 2012 report, the country's index had deteriorated to 5.15 and its ranking to 95 out of 167.[8]
During the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, the country's democracy has deteriorated further, with the 2017 report downgrading Venezuela from a hybrid regime to an authoritarian regime, the lowest category, with an index of 3.87 (the second lowest in Latin America), reflecting "Venezuela’s continued slide towards dictatorship as the government has side-lined the opposition-dominated National Assembly, jailed or disenfranchised leading opposition politicians and violently suppressed opposition protests."[9]
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative[10] has similarly given Venezuela scores for Civil and Political Rights. For Safety from the State Rights, HRMI uses responses from human rights experts in Venezuela to give the country scores for freedom from arbitrary arrest, forced disappearance, the death penalty, extrajudicial execution, and torture and ill-treatment. Venezuela has received a cumulative score of 2.9 out of 10 for these rights.[11] For Empowerment Rights, which consist of freedom of assembly and association, opinion and expression, and participation in government, Venezuela receives a cumulative score of 2.4 out of 10.[12]
Soon after President Chávez was first elected, a national referendum was called in April 1999 in which 92% of voters favored drafting a new constitution. The constitution was drafted by an elected assembly with the participation of diverse citizens' groups, and was voted on later that year in another national referendum and approved with 71.8% support among voters. The new constitution of Venezuela sought to secure a wider range of human rights, such as health care as a human right.[13] It also created an Office of the Public Defender, which includes the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office. Of the 350 articles in the 1999 constitution, 116 are dedicated to duties, human rights, and guarantees, including a chapter on the rights of indigenous peoples.[14]
Venezuela ratified the American Convention on Human Rights in 1977.[15] This makes it part of the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Relationships with international bodies[edit]
Human Rights Watch[edit]
In September 2008, the Venezuelan government expelled Human Rights Watch Americas Director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, from the country over the publication of a report[211][212] entitled "A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela",[213] which discussed systematic violations to human, civil and political rights.
On 17 September 2020, United Nations discovered Venezuelan authorities and armed pro-government groups committed human rights violations that amounted to crimes against humanity.[214]