Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, reiterated on Wednesday that the cooperation of the Bolivarian Government with the UN Human Rights Council has been built in direct coordination with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as recognized by High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet this week in her oral update on technical assistance to Venezuela.
On his Twitter account @jaarreaza, the Venezuelan foreign minister agreed with the UN high commissioner that progress has been made, and as irrefutable proof of the successful development of cooperation, the Bolivarian Government and the OHCHR signed the renewal of the Letter of Understanding endorsed on September 20, 2019, for a renewable year.
“We reiterate that our cooperation with the #UN Human Rights Council has been built in a coordinated & constructive manner with the HC’s Office. Progress has been remarkable & this has been recognized by Ms. @mbachelet when she announced the renewal of our relationship.”
In another message, Arreaza insisted that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela “do not recognize any politicized, inquisitorial mechanism, created for ideological purposes by countries with terrible human rights records” to attack Venezuela and try to harm its relation with the OHCHR.
“Since Dec. 2, 2019, we have affirmed that we don’t recognize any politicized & inquisitorial mechanism, created for ideological purposes by countries with terrible human rights records, to attack Venezuela & try to damage the relationship with the HC’s Office.”
In a third message, the Venezuelan foreign minister questioned this meddling mechanism, which is not recognized by Venezuela, produced “a report plagued by falsehoods, written remotely, without any methodological rigor by a ghost mission biased against Venezuela, and controlled by governments subordinated to Washington.”
“A report plagued by falsehoods, written remotely, without any methodological rigor, by a ghost mission biased against VEN & controlled by govts subordinated to WA, illustrates the perverse practice of doing politics with human rights & not human rights policies.”
Since December 2, 2019, the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has rejected the creation of an alleged Fact-Finding Mission to Venezuela within the Human Rights Council as a result of the shameful political use of the Council’s mechanisms by a reduced group of governments featuring a terrible record of human rights violations.
In a statement released on the aforementioned date, the Bolivarian Government stressed it is working in coordination with the OHCHR within the framework of the Letter of Understanding to address human rights-related challenges by strengthening further the system of social protection of the Venezuelan state.
“As an elected member of the Human Rights Council for the 2020-2022 period, Venezuela ratifies it will work hard to depoliticize its implementation for selective purposes and with the biased intention to violate the independence, sovereignty and self-determination of the Venezuelan people and all the peoples of the world,” reads the statement.