Venezuela Must Respect Right To Peaceful Protest And Democratic Dissent As New Presidential Term Begins: UN Experts

GENEVA (10 January 2025) – Venezuela must end the arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of opposition members and pro-democracy activists ahead of the inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro’s third term in office, UN experts* said today.

“We are gravely concerned that reports of serious human rights violations in the country in the context of presidential elections on 28 July 2024 have not receded,” the experts said.

“Venezuela’s opposition parties were calling on citizens to join demonstrations against alleged election irregularities in the country’s July 2024 polls during the presidential inauguration today,” they said. “Repeatedly, such calls for peaceful protests have been followed by reports of systemic use of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention by state authorities, aimed at crushing dissent.”

At least 19 people had reportedly been detained arbitrarily nationwide ahead of the inauguration, and at least eight have been forcibly disappeared, the experts said.

In August and September 2024, several UN experts raised deep concern about allegations of serious human rights violations in the context of Venezuela’s presidential elections. They highlighted arbitrary detentions, excessive use of force against demonstrators, unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, unlawful dismissals, revocation of passports, persecution, and prosecution of political opponents and people exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, and violations of due process and irregularities during and after the elections.

“We are very concerned that human rights violations continue to accumulate, victims remain unprotected, and there has been no accountability or justice against perpetrators, nor guarantees of non-repetition amid the new mobilisations and protests that are expected in the coming days. The population is in a state of terror due to the reactions of the State,” the experts warned.

While some people who were detained after the elections have been released, the experts said dozens of cases were raised with the Government involving the enforced disappearance of individuals linked to their actual or perceived political affiliations, including cases since 28 July 2024, and remain unresolved.

“In the face of planned protests, the Venezuelan State must guarantee the safety of demonstrators and refrain from acts of violence and human rights violations that could put people’s lives and personal integrity at risk” experts said. “The State must also take prompt steps to address persistent reports of systematic human rights violations in the country, especially against those critical of or dissenting with the Government.”

They urged authorities to address and prevent harassment, persecution, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of people and organisations perceived as opposition, including peaceful protestors, to immediately release all persons arbitrarily detained, and to clarify the fate and whereabouts of the missing persons.

The experts have been in contact with the Government of Venezuela on these issues.

*The experts: Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Gabriella Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grażyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez and Mohammed Al-Obaidi Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

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