Venezuelan lawmakers declare UN human rights chief persona non grata
The rare diplomatic designation has no immediate practical effect but reflected the broader anger of President Nicolás Maduro at the U.N. agency that monitors and defends human rights. It comes just days after Türk said his office has documented increasing arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and torture under Maduro's government.
'Türk turns a blind eye to atrocious crimes,' said National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, who is also Maduro's chief negotiator with the U.S. 'He does nothing for the human rights of Venezuelans in the United States and El Salvador.'
El Salvador is holding 252 Venezuelans deported from the U.S. in a maximum-security prison. Türk recently urged the U.S. to halt deportations of Venezuelans who may be at risk of arrest in their home country and raised concerns about the lack of due process in mass deportations from the U.S.
The ire of Venezuela's National Assembly appeared to have been energized by Türk's speech to the Human Rights Council in Geneva last Friday.
Türk raised alarm over an intensifying crackdown on civil liberties in the wake of Venezuela's parliamentary elections in June and the unrest that followed Maduro's disputed re-election last year — echoing past statements of concern from his agency and other watchdogs.
Electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner of the July 2024 presidential election despite credible evidence to the contrary.
'I am very concerned by detention conditions, including people being denied access to medical care, and lacking access to food and water,' he told the council last week. 'Some prisoners were subjected to incommunicado detention.'
Lawmakers called on Maduro to withdraw Venezuela's membership from the Human Rights Council while Türk remains in his post.
Türk's office offered no immediate response to the National Assembly decision.
The move Tuesday raised new questions over the status of the U.N. human rights office in Venezuela's capital of Caracas, which partially resumed operations last December — months after Maduro's government forced it to close and expelled its staff, accusing the agency's employees of aiding 'coup-plotters and terrorists' as tensions surged in the run-up to the presidential election.
____
Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
13 hours ago
- Bloomberg
America Is Undermining Its Soft Power in Sports
The pre-teen boys who play for Venezuela's Cardenales Little League are on their way to the upcoming Little League World Series. Credit is due to their talent and diligence — and an exemption from President Donald Trump's travel ban personally granted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week. Unfortunately, before this special waiver, their participation was far from guaranteed. In July, a different Venezuelan Little League team, Cacique Mara, was denied US visas and a chance to play in a different event in South Carolina.
13 hours ago
Rwanda-backed rebels have recently killed at least 80 civilians in Congo: Authorities
KINSHASA, Congo -- Rwanda-backed rebels have killed at least 80 people in eastern Congo in recent weeks, Congolese authorities said, despite the ongoing Qatar-led peace process aiming to end the conflict. The army said in a statement late Friday that it is 'fiercely condemning a series of mass murders of civilians by the RDF/M23-AFC coalition" in South Kivu, including of 80 people on Aug. 4 in the village of Nyaborongo, and of six civilians, including two minors, on July 24 in the village of Lumbishi. 'In addition to this excessive criminality, the M23/AFC is engaged in the forced recruitment of young people, including minors, to join their illegal organization,' the statement said. The continuing violence could threaten Qatar-led efforts to get Congo and the rebels to sign a permanent peace deal by the goal of Aug. 18. One of the deal's conditions is the protection of civilians and safe return of millions of people displaced by the conflict. There was no immediate comment from M23. Earlier this month, the the U.N. human rights chief said that M23 killed 319 people over the past month in a different part of the region, describing the toll as one of the largest documented in such attacks since the M23 rebels resurfaced in 2022. Citing firsthand accounts, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement that the rebels, backed by members of the Rwandan Defense Force, targeted four villages in North Kivu province's Rutshuru territory between July 9 and July 21. M23 denied the accusations and called the U.N. statement 'unverified and politically motivated.' 'These allegations constitute a blatant manipulation of the facts, a violation of basic principles of impartiality, and a serious attack on the credibility of U.N. institutions,' said Lawrence Kanyuka, the spokesperson for the Congo River Alliance, an umbrella organization which includes M23. 'We call for the opening of an independent investigation and hope that the organizations that published this report can participate in it.' The M23 earlier this year seized two key cities in eastern Congo, in a major escalation with the help of neighboring Rwandan forces. Congo has long been wracked by deadly conflict in its mineral-rich east, with more than 100 armed groups active. The two sides on July 19 signed a declaration of principles in Qatar to end the fighting and commit to a comprehensive peace agreement that would include the restoration of state authorities in key eastern cities controlled by the insurgents.
San Francisco Chronicle
14 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Rwanda-backed rebels have killed at least 80 civilians in recent weeks, Congolese authorities say
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Rwanda-backed rebels have killed at least 80 people in eastern Congo in recent weeks, Congolese authorities said, despite the ongoing Qatar-led peace process aiming to end the conflict. The army said in a statement late Friday that it is 'fiercely condemning a series of mass murders of civilians by the RDF/M23-AFC coalition" in South Kivu, including of 80 people on Aug. 4 in the village of Nyaborongo, and of six civilians, including two minors, on July 24 in the village of Lumbishi. 'In addition to this excessive criminality, the M23/AFC is engaged in the forced recruitment of young people, including minors, to join their illegal organization,' the statement said. The continuing violence could threaten Qatar-led efforts to get Congo and the rebels to sign a permanent peace deal by the goal of Aug. 18. One of the deal's conditions is the protection of civilians and safe return of millions of people displaced by the conflict. There was no immediate comment from M23. Earlier this month, the the U.N. human rights chief said that M23 killed 319 people over the past month in a different part of the region, describing the toll as one of the largest documented in such attacks since the M23 rebels resurfaced in 2022. Citing firsthand accounts, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement that the rebels, backed by members of the Rwandan Defense Force, targeted four villages in North Kivu province's Rutshuru territory between July 9 and July 21. M23 denied the accusations and called the U.N. statement 'unverified and politically motivated.' 'These allegations constitute a blatant manipulation of the facts, a violation of basic principles of impartiality, and a serious attack on the credibility of U.N. institutions,' said Lawrence Kanyuka, the spokesperson for the Congo River Alliance, an umbrella organization which includes M23. 'We call for the opening of an independent investigation and hope that the organizations that published this report can participate in it.' The M23 earlier this year seized two key cities in eastern Congo, in a major escalation with the help of neighboring Rwandan forces. Congo has long been wracked by deadly conflict in its mineral-rich east, with more than 100 armed groups active. The two sides on July 19 signed a declaration of principles in Qatar to end the fighting and commit to a comprehensive peace agreement that would include the restoration of state authorities in key eastern cities controlled by the insurgents.
