{"id":21689,"date":"2015-04-07T17:19:21","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T21:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/?p=21689"},"modified":"2024-09-12T17:20:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T21:20:12","slug":"venezuela-stop-harassing-human-rights-defenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/2015\/04\/07\/venezuela-stop-harassing-human-rights-defenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela: Stop Harassing Human Rights Defenders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Intimidation Undermines Independent Oversight<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Panama City, April 7, 2015) \u2013\u00a0Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0is 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\u2019 allegations concern the groups\u2019 legitimate functions of documenting abuses and representing victims before international human rights bodies.<\/p>\n

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 Nicol\u00e1s Maduro to ensure that human rights defenders can do their job without fear of reprisals, the organizations said.<\/p>\n

The government harassment is clearly intended to discredit and intimidate groups that document human rights violations, the groups said.<\/p>\n

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 Televisi\u00f3n, that \u201cNGO representatives from the Venezuelan extreme right\u201d 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\u2019s review by the UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva, or traveled abroad to conduct advocacy meetings.<\/p>\n

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 P\u00fablico (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.<\/p>\n

Cabello contends that the information presented on the show had been provided by anonymous \u201cpatriotic informants\u201d (patriotas cooperantes).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

On March 23, Mar\u00eda Alejandra D\u00edaz, a lawyer who represented the government at the IACHR hearings, said on Venezolana de Televisi\u00f3n that \u201cThe issue of human rights is just a fa\u00e7ade\u201d and that nongovernmental groups that participated in the hearings \u201csay they are Venezuelan\u201d but \u201cplay the imperialist game\u201d and \u201clie in front of the IACHR to make Venezuela look like the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s \u201cVenezuelan delegation\u201d at the Summit of the Americas. Their objective is to \u201clegitimize destabilization actions\u201d in Venezuela, the article says.<\/p>\n

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 \u201c[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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201care enjoyed by everyone and any registered or unregistered entities\u201d and that no one is subject to \u201charassment, persecution, intimidation or reprisals\u201d for exercising them.<\/p>\n

Signatories<\/strong>
\nAmnesty International
\nAsociaci\u00f3n Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) (Peru)
\nAsociaci\u00f3n por los Derechos Civiles (ADC) (Argentina)
\nCentro de Derechos Humanos de la Monta\u00f1a Tlachinollan (Mexico)
\nCentro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agust\u00edn Pro Ju\u00e1rez, A.C. (Centro Prodh) (Mexico)
\nCentro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad (Dejusticia) (Colombia)
\nCenter for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
\nCIVICUS
\nCiudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (CADHAC) (Mexico)
\nComisi\u00f3n Colombiana de Juristas (Colombia)
\nComisi\u00f3n Ecum\u00e9nica de Derechos Humanos (CEDHU) (Ecuador)
\nCorporaci\u00f3n Humanas (Chile)
\nCoordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos (Peru)
\nDue Process of Law Foundation (DPLF)
\nInstituto de Estudios Legales y Sociales del Uruguay (IELSUR) (Uruguay)
\nInstituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) (Peru)
\nInstituto de Desenvolvimento e Direitos Humanos (Brazil)
\nInternational Commission of Jurists
\nInternational Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
\nInternational Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
\nFrontline Defenders
\nFundaci\u00f3n Myrna Mack (Guatemala)
\nFundaci\u00f3n Regional de Asesor\u00eda en Derechos Humanos (INREDH) (Ecuador)
\nHuman Rights Watch
\nObservatorio Ciudadano (Chile)
\nRobert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights
\nTransparency International
\nWorld Organization Against Torture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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