Venezuela: UN rights expert concerned at potential for repression in Sunday’s ‘Sovereign Consultation’
GENEVA (14 July 2017) – Venezuelan authorities must ensure compliance with international human rights standards during
an unofficial public vote on President Nicolás Maduro’s planned constitutional changes on Sunday 16 July, a United
Nations expert has stressed.
“I am deeply concerned at the pattern of violence displayed in similar circumstances by the police and National Guard
that could be again applied in the context of this consultation,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to
freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Annalisa Ciampi,
An estimated six to eight million people are expected to take part in the opposition-organized ‘Sovereign Consultation’
on the president’s decision to convene a National Constitutional Assembly. Opposition groups say the president’s move
breaches the Constitution.
Ms. Ciampi highlighted reported attacks on voting centres by armed pro-government civilians who have been active during
protests over the past few months. “Such attacks severely violate the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and
expression,” she stressed.
“I am also worried about the alleged intimidation of protesters and opposition members by public officers,” the expert
said. “Coercion is never an answer to the legitimate demands for democracy and to people’s expression of frustrations
against the background of economic and social unrest triggered by increasing poverty and deteriorating living
conditions.”
During the past three and half months, over 90 people have lost their lives in the almost daily demonstrations against
the Government.
The UN Special Rapporteur reiterated the call previously made by a group of UN human rights experts in late April, to
facilitate the exercise of the right of peaceful assembly and to ensure a constructive dialogue between the people and
their representatives.
“The Venezuelan authorities should not interfere with peaceful demonstrations, and indeed are obliged to actively
protect assemblies,” she noted. “They should facilitate the exercise of people’s rights to peaceful assembly and freedom
of expression.”
Ms. Ciampi appealed to the Venezuelan authorities “to heed the stringent tenets of international human rights standards
and refrain from resorting to violence”.
ENDS