| Venezuela_Stop_Harassment 3 pages / 24 KB |
(Panama
City, April 7, 2015) – Venezuela
is intimidating and harassing human rights defenders, and making
unsubstantiated allegations that they are seeking to undermine Venezuelan
democracy, 28 international and Latin American human rights organizations said
today. The authorities’ allegations concern the groups’ legitimate functions of
documenting abuses and representing victims before international human rights
bodies.
Venezuelan authorities should cease this tactic immediately, the groups
said. Governments participating in the Summit of the Americas in Panama on
April 10-11, 2015, should press the administration of Nicolás Maduro to ensure
that human rights defenders can do their job without fear of reprisals, the
organizations said.
The government harassment is clearly intended to discredit and intimidate
groups that document human rights violations, the groups said.
On February 12, Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Assembly and
member of the governing party, stated on the website of his weekly TV show, Con el Mazo Dando, aired on the state-run
Venezolana de Televisión, that “NGO
representatives from the Venezuelan extreme right” would participate in
hearings before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in March.
Cabello had previously criticized Venezuelan human rights
defenders who participated in the country’s review by the UN Committee Against
Torture in Geneva, or traveled abroad to conduct advocacy meetings.
On
March 18, during his show, Cabello read a list of names of individuals and organizations
who had traveled to Washington, DC, to participate in the IACHR hearings. The
list included leading human rights groups such as Provea, Espacio Público
(Public Space), Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones (Venezuelan Observatory of
Prisons), Transparencia Venezuela (Transparency Venezuela), Cofavic, Codevida,
and Observatorio Venezolano de Conflictividad Social (Venezuelan Observatory of
Social Conflicts). Cabello accused them of receiving instructions from the US
Embassy in Caracas before traveling to the hearings.
Cabello contends that the information presented on the
show had been provided by anonymous “patriotic informants” (patriotas cooperantes).
Twelve
human rights defenders who arrived in Caracas on various flights between March
20 and 22 have said that they were followed by unidentified men from when they landed
until they left the airport, were filmed or photographed, and/or that officials
irregularly searched their bags.
On March 23, María Alejandra Díaz, a lawyer who represented the government
at the IACHR hearings, said on Venezolana
de Televisión that “The issue of human rights is just a façade” and that
nongovernmental groups that participated in the hearings “say they are
Venezuelan” but “play the imperialist game” and “lie in front of the IACHR to
make Venezuela look like the devil.”
An article published on April 3 in the official newspaper Correo del Orinoco accused two
well-respected human rights defenders of being part of the US Central
Intelligence Agency’s “Venezuelan delegation” at the Summit of the Americas.
Their objective is to “legitimize destabilization actions” in Venezuela, the
article says.
Under international law, governments must ensure that
human rights defenders are allowed to pursue their legitimiate activities
without reprisals, threats, intimidation, harassment, discrimination, or
unnecessary legal obstacles. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights held in
2003 that “[r]espect for human rights in a democratic state depends largely on
human rights defenders enjoying effective and adequate guarantees so as to
freely go about their activities.”
The rights to freedom of expression and association may be subject to
limitations, but the limitations must adhere to strict standards so that they
do not improperly impede the exercise of those rights. Any restrictions should
be prescribed by law, be necessary in a democratic society, and proportionate
to the aim pursued.
In 2012, the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and of association called on countries to ensure that these rights
“are enjoyed by everyone and any registered or unregistered entities” and that
no one is subject to “harassment, persecution, intimidation or reprisals” for
exercising them.
Signatories
Amnesty
International
Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) (Peru)
Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC) (Argentina)
Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan
(Mexico)
Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez,
A.C. (Centro Prodh) (Mexico)
Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad
(Dejusticia) (Colombia)
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
CIVICUS
Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos, A.C.
(CADHAC) (Mexico)
Comisión Colombiana de Juristas (Colombia)
Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos (CEDHU)
(Ecuador)
Corporación Humanas (Chile)
Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos (Peru)
Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF)
Instituto de Estudios Legales y Sociales del Uruguay
(IELSUR) (Uruguay)
Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) (Peru)
Instituto de Desenvolvimento e Direitos Humanos (Brazil)
International Commission of Jurists
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
Frontline Defenders
Fundación Myrna Mack (Guatemala)
Fundación Regional de Asesoría en Derechos Humanos
(INREDH) (Ecuador)
Human Rights Watch
Observatorio Ciudadano (Chile)
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights
Transparency International
World Organization Against Torture
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