Human rights groups welcomed the two-year extension of the UN mission, which Caracas condemned as ‘designed for interventionism’.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has renewed the mandate of its fact-finding mission in Venezuela, an initiative Caracas sees as an active tool for intervention in domestic affairs.
The mandate to extend the International Independent Truth-Seeking Mission for Venezuela (FFM) by two years was passed with 19 votes to 5 against and 23 abstentions during a session of the Council in Geneva on Friday. .
The The first UN mission was established in 2019 to review allegations of human rights abuses in the country.
Opponents are Cuba, Bolivia, China, Eritrea and Venezuela itself, which the Council’s representative, Ambassador Hector Constant Rosales, called the resolution “hostile”.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Carlos Faria said on Twitter that the expansion of FFM was “a new attack against Venezuela”.
Mission “is designed for interventionism and for falsifying reality. This committee is a political tool for the most brazen defamation of human rights issue“, he added.
In September, the mission’s third report showed that state intelligence agencies under President Nicolas Maduro had suppress the opposition through arbitrary detention and torture resulted in crimes against humanity.
The report said intelligence agencies have “used sexual and gender-based violence to torture and humiliate detainees” since 2014 and that “violations and crimes…continued until now.” nowadays”.
The Venezuelan Government responded that the report’s allegations were “false and baseless”.
Venezuela is a “democratic and social country, based on the rule of law and justice, committed to promoting, respecting and protecting human rights,” the government said.
Human rights groups welcome the expansion of FFM.
“Amnesty International welcomes the renewal of its Truth Search Mission about #Venezuela as a sign of support for the countless victims of the serious human rights abuses that have been and continue to be committed in the country” @ErikaGuevaraR https://t.co/udCjIQYFJw
– amnestypress (@amnestypress) October 7, 2022
The extension is “a sign of support for the countless victims of the serious human rights abuses that have been and continue to be perpetrated in this country,” said Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Americas Erika. Guevara Rosas said on Twitter.
Human Rights Watch called the FFM extension “critically important” and said it played an “early warning role in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election”.
