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IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights Condemn the Violent Repression in Venezuela and Urge the State to Protect Human Rights in the Current Political, Economic and Social Crisis
March 1, 2019
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Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) and its Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social,
Cultural, and Environmental Rights (SRESCER) condemn the violent
repression in Venezuela and urge the State to protect the human
rights of the Venezuelan people in the ongoing political, economic
and social crisis.
The IACHR gathered information about serious violence in Venezuela on
February 23, 2019, in the context of efforts to try to get humanitarian aid
into the country from various places across the border in Colombia and
Brazil. Such repression involved officers of the Bolivarian National Police,
the Bolivarian National Guard and groups of armed civilians.
According to the organization Observatorio Venezolano de Conflictividad
Social (OVCS), four people were murdered in Santa Elena de Uairén, Bolívar,
all of them shot: José Hernández, 25, José Esley Perez Márquez, 20, José
Barrios Carrasco, 23, and Kliver Alfredo Pérez Rivero, 24. The IACHR has
been informed of the alleged deaths of four other people in the states of
Bolívar and Táchira, although they are yet to be identified. The OVCS also
reported 295 injured, who suffered gunshot wounds, were intoxicated with
harmful substances or suffered other types of aggression in at least 12
states. The OVCS mentioned two trucks that were burned while trying to enter
Venezuelan territory loaded with humanitarian aid.
The organization Foro Penal also recorded 32 arrests, in the states of
Zulia (16), Bolívar (6), Lara (4), Anzoátegui (3), Táchira (2) and Aragua
(1). Of the people who have been arrested, 10 are Pemon indigenous
persons—nine from the Kumaracapay community and one from Santa Elena de
Uairén, Gran Sabana, in the state of Bolívar.
Further, on February 22, the IACHR was informed of the death of one
person and injuries to at least 15 others in the Kumaracapay indigenous
community, in San Francisco de Yuruaní, Bolívar, as trucks carrying officers
of the Army and the Bolivarian National Guard who were en route to Brazil
allegedly opened fire on members of that community.
The Commission observes with concern that recent violence happened in a
context marked by the repression of
protests in January and February; the use of lethal force during
demonstrations; the persecution and stigmatization of opposition activists
and citizens; complaints of
searches without court warrants and arbitrary arrests during protests
and following such events;
expulsions and arrests of journalists and violations of people’s right
to freedom of expression by blocking or suspending websites, platforms and
Internet services more generally.
The organizations Observatorio Venezolano de Conflictividad Social and
PROVEA recorded a total of 35 deaths in January 22-28 in the context of
protests in 10 states around the country. All victims allegedly suffered
gunshot wounds. In approximately 80% of all cases, the presence of security
officers of the Special Action Forces, the Bolivarian National Police and
the Bolivarian National Guard was documented. According to data gathered by
Foro Penal, between January 21 and February 21, a total of 1,122
people—including 141 women and 141 minors—were subjected to arbitrary
arrests in the context of protests. Of those, 1,030 have allegedly been
taken before court and 636—including 75 women—remain deprived of their
liberty. There have also been reports of arrests and of stigmatization and
harassment campaigns targeting human rights defenders and humanitarian
workers in the country, particularly in recent weeks.
According to the OVCS, during 2018, 89% of all protests held in the
country were linked to the failure to protect economic, social, cultural and
environmental rights. During January 2019 alone, the OVCS counted 2,573
demonstrations, an average of 86 protests per day all around the country. Of
those, approximately 36% demanded the right to health, food, labor rights
and access to essential services. The official minimum wage in Venezuela
currently stands at 6 dollars a month, and it has suffered a loss of
purchasing power.
The IACHR and its SRESCER warn that acts of repression and violence
happen in a general context of permanent crisis, especially concerning an
effective protection of the rights to food and health, which has
particularly affected vulnerable individuals and groups. Over the past two
years, food production has dropped, food prices have increased and there is
limited access to food, which has seriously affected Venezuelans. A survey
carried out by the Roman Catholic organization Cáritas found that, by
November 2018, 57% of the 4,103 5-year-olds who were assessed showed some
degree of malnutrition and 7.3% had severe malnutrition. Shortages and the
high cost of products that are essential for the specific adequate nutrition
of children and adolescents—such as milk and milk products, high biological
value products, cereal, protein, vitamin supplements and food
supplements—are some of the factors that make them particularly suffer the
consequences of lack of access. Women have also been particularly affected
by the food crisis. They often suffer malnutrition during pregnancy and
while breastfeeding—both crucial for the health of mothers and their born
and unborn babies—and that has led many to choose to undergo sterilization
surgery.
The humanitarian emergency that is ongoing in Venezuela is also affecting
indigenous peoples with little access to goods, services and financial
resources. Malaria, measles and the flu, among other infectious diseases,
have reached communities such as the Warao in Delta Amacuro state and the
Yanomami on the Brazilian border. Such diseases are life-threatening in
those cases, given the lack of access to healthcare facilities. Geographical
barriers make it necessary to take medical assistance and food to the most
remote areas of the country, which in turn requires very well-articulated
transport logistics. Poor communication between service providers and
indigenous communities are another major hurdle, and so is limited
understanding of the realities and the sociocultural representations in
place in those communities.
Considering the applicable international standards and regulations, the
IACHR and its SRESCER stress that the right to food is only ensured when
people have physical and financial access to adequate food or to the means
to obtain such food at any time. In that context, the Venezuelan State must
make more effort to ensure essential levels, in order to protect its people
from hunger even when faced with seriously limited resources.
Scarcity and shortages of medication and medical equipment, inputs and
treatment in Venezuela has gradually got worse since 2014. According to
figures released by PROVEA and CodeVida, the current shortages affect 90% of
all medication and inputs at the national level. There is reportedly also a
collapse of hospital infrastructure around the country: 50% of all operating
theaters are inactive, and 80% of all diagnostic services are not fit for
use, according to the National Hospital Survey. Chronic medication shortages
are allegedly having a particular impact on patients with chronic illnesses
like HIV, diabetes, kidney failure, cancer and multiple sclerosis. JM de los
Ríos Hospital (Caracas), Concepción Palacios Maternity (Caracas) and Andes
University Hospital (Iahula) are some of the hospitals that are particularly
affected by the health sector crisis.
According to information obtained by the SRESCER, more than 11,000 people
with kidney deficiencies are at risk, given shortages of adequate inputs and
difficult access to such resources, as well as poor equipment maintenance
and a poor supply of power and water. Further, the number of weekly hours of
therapy has been reduced due to the lack of resources, so patients are
getting dialysis only once a week, in sessions that are too short to suit
their needs. According to the information the Commission has had access to,
2,486 patients who previously received regular hemodialysis died between
October 2017 and June 2018 in Venezuela (the latest available data). The
Commission has also been informed of patients with kidney deficiencies who
received regular dialysis across the Colombian border in San José de Cúcuta
and who are now being prevented from accessing treatment because the border
has been closed, which has in turn impacted their right to health. The IACHR
and its SRESCER stress that health is a fundamental human right that is
essential for the exercise of all other human rights. States have a general
obligation to ensure people’s access to essential health services (by
ensuring effective, good-quality healthcare) and to promote improvements in
the health condition of their people.
Further, considering that access to medication is an integral component
of the right to health, it needs to be protected and respected, among other
things by supplying essential drugs to treat illnesses that pose
public-health risks or that are crucial to preserve the health of the
Venezuelan people. The process to select such drugs and to prioritize
diseases will need to be based on evidence and must be transparent and
participatory, particularly for the worst-affected groups.
The IACHR has observed that millions of Venezuelans have been forced to
migrate to other countries in the region in recent years, as a consequence
of mass human rights violations and of the serious food and health crisis in
the country. This is the biggest contemporary forced-migration crisis in the
region, as well as one of the most significant worldwide. According to the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International
Organization for Migration (IOM), there were nearly 3.4 million Venezuelan
migrants and refugees in various countries around the world by February 1,
2019, 2.7 million of them in Latin American and Caribbean countries (mainly
Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil). This crisis context
has also led to the forced displacement of indigenous peoples.
The Venezuelan crisis affects all human rights, which are indivisible and
interdependent. The IACHR expresses its growing concern about the extreme
vulnerability of the Venezuelan people—within and beyond the country’s
borders—due to widespread poverty and to severe restrictions in access to
rights including food, health, education, employment and housing, as well as
the previously mentioned State repression of protests and freedom of
expression.
The Commission stresses its huge concern about recent repression and
about the persistence and escalation of violence. The IACHR urges the State
to protect the population’s rights to life, personal integrity, personal
liberty, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and social and political
participation. Further, the Commission asks the authorities to refrain from
harassment campaigns targeting human rights defenders and humanitarian
workers in the country. The IACHR calls on the State to end all forms of
violence and to refrain from using lethal force in all circumstances. The
Commission urges the Venezuelan State and all actors to reduce tensions and
prevent further escalation of violence, which could particularly affect the
most vulnerable population groups, especially children and indigenous
peoples.
The SRESCER is an office of the IACHR and was especially created to brace
the Commission’s compliance with its mandate to promote and protect
economic, social, cultural and environmental rights in the Americas.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 052/19