The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, in a statement by the Permanent Representative to the UN-Geneva, Héctor Constant, appreciated on Tuesday that High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet acknowledged the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights in Venezuela and called those countries imposing them to lift them.
Constant made these remarks at the 48th ordinary session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where Bachelet presented on Monday the oral update of her report on the human rights situation in the South American country.
The Venezuelan ambassador reminded the High Commissioner that since her last report, the U.S. Government has continued besieging Venezuela through the imposition of illegal unilateral coercive measures that cause death, pain and suffering to the people, and that billions of dollars have been seized in foreign banks, thus depriving the Venezuelan State of indispensable resources to purchase food, medicines and medical supplies.
Likewise, Constant pointed out that UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan, in her visit to Venezuela last February, witnessed the havoc wreaked by these measures.
He highlighted that despite these aggressions, social investment in Venezuela has been maintained, and proof of that is that over 7.5 million families benefit from food distribution through the CLAP program, the Great Housing Program has delivered over 3.6 million houses, and mass vaccination against COVID-19 is moving forward, tripling the efforts to immunize 300,000 people daily.
Venezuela’s permanent representative to the UN Human Rights Council provided data on the progress in the cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), a cooperation based on a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 and renewed for one more year, and explained that 12 officials are working in the country and that since September 2020, the OHCHR has conducted 24 visits to detention centers and missions on the ground in at least 8 states.
«This confirms Venezuela’s commitment to the protection of human rights and our will to cooperate with the OHCHR,» said Constant.
Politicized Report
Notwithstanding, the Venezuelan representative regretted that «we are still noticing politicized elements in the report that negatively affect its objectivity and credibility, with information that has not been verified with the Venezuelan authorities, and low-credibility sources despite the permanent presence of the OHCHR in the country.»
Constant said these unfounded questionings feed the agenda of multifaceted attacks against Venezuela.
In his statement, Ambassador Constant also referred to the talks between the Venezuelan Government and opposition sectors that recently started in Mexico and that have been positively assessed by the High Commissioner in her report, highlighting the Bolivarian Government’s will so that this dialogue yield results and contribute to the benefit of the Venezuelan people, «for which the lifting of illegal unilateral coercive measures imposed on the country is a need.»