The Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Félix Plasencia, praised the conclusions of the report presented on Wednesday by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, Alena Douhan, at the 48th ordinary session of the UN Human Rights Council.
On behalf of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the foreign minister highlighted the efforts made by the special rapporteur, who, following her visit to the South American country last February, made it clear that these «measures,» in the form of collective punishments, applied by the United States, the European Union and other allied states, have flagrantly violated international law.
«In a shameless and exaggerated way, since 2015, Venezuela has suffered the brunt of a multidimensional financial, economic and property attack with more than 430 unilateral coercive measures, which have blocked its external and private trade, against all legal principles of sovereign immunity,» denounced Plasencia.
The Venezuelan foreign minister explained that as a consequence of illegal sanctions, which go against the Charter of the United Nations and the most elemental principles of international law, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has suffered losses surpassing $130 million.
«Unilateral coercive measures constitute crimes against humanity. We have suffered them and we denounced them in February 2020, when we requested the International Criminal Court an investigation into crimes against humanity committed by the United States against the Venezuelan people,» he stressed.
The consequences of these measures have translated into a 99% drastic reduction of Venezuela’s incomes, with a negative impact that has extended to all areas, especially food, health, transport, communications and technologies, and seriously affecting education and culture.
Open Agenda
In his statement, Foreign Minister Plasencia highlighted that during her visit to Venezuela, Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan, with full freedom and independence, carried out a broad agenda of meetings for over 10 days with political, social, institutional, academic and business sectors, enabling her to know the reality of Venezuela.
«We took note of her conclusions, which state that these illegal measures are international crimes attempting against the Venezuelan people, their economic, social rights and development, and demanded their immediate lifting,» stressed the Venezuelan foreign minister.
Plasencia gave an overview of the talks and partial agreements reached by the negotiation process in México between the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and opposition sectors.
The head of the Venezuelan diplomacy also reiterated Caracas’ will to move forward with cooperation relations with the UN Human Rights Council.