This Friday, at a press conference with national and international media from the city of Caracas, the UN Special Rapporteur, Alena Douhan, urged the United States, the European Union and other states to lift the illegal unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
She also urged the governments of the United Kingdom and Portugal to unfreeze the assets of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), to guarantee the satisfaction of the humanitarian needs of Venezuelans.
“For the purchase of medicines, vaccines, food, medical equipment, spare parts and other essential goods; to guarantee the human rights of Venezuelans and restore public services through mechanisms agreed with the UNDP and other UN agencies” , he stressed.
The Rapporteur explained that the assets used for public functions belong to the State, therefore, the freezing of them due to the non-recognition of the Venezuelan Government and the subsequent adoption of coercive measures violate the sovereignty of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
In this context, she reiterated that the unilateral sanctions against the oil and mining industry “are in violation of international law and their illegality is not excluded by referring to countermeasures.”
Regarding the state of “national emergency” announced by the United States in 2015 and repeatedly extended regarding the consideration of Venezuela as an “unusual and extraordinary threat”, the Rapporteur asserted that it does not correspond to the requirements of Article 4 of the International Agreement of Civil and Political Rights as existence of threat of life for this nation.
“The purpose announced in the maximum pressure campaign to change the Venezuelan government violates the principle of sovereign equality, constitutes an intervention in the internal affairs of the country and affects its regional relations”, she added.
UN Rapporteur Alena Douhan plans to publish a full report on her mission in September this year.
