GENEVA: The UN human rights chief voiced alarm Monday at widespread rights abuses in Venezuela, warning of possible “crimes against humanity” in the crisis-wracked country.
“My investigation suggests the possibility that crimes against humanity may have been committed,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said at the opening of the 36th session of the Human Rights Council, calling for an international probe.
Venezuela’s crisis has caused food and medicine shortages, deadly unrest and calls for President Nicolas Maduro to quit.
Clashes with security forces at anti-government protests left 125 people dead from April to July.
“There is a very real danger that tensions will further escalate, with the government crushing democratic institutions and critical voices,” Zeid warned.
He said an investigation by his office had noted the widespread use of “criminal proceedings against opposition leaders, recourse to arbitrary detentions, excessive use of force and ill-treatment of detainees, which in some cases amounts to torture.”
Late last month, Zeid echoed international concerns that Venezuela was slipping into dictatorship, cautioning that democracy in the country was “barely alive, if still alive.”
His office has previously criticized Venezuela’s all-powerful constituent assembly and its “truth commission,” which has been tasked with investigating several opposition leaders for treason.
On Monday, Zeid said he supported the concept of a truth commission, but stressed that “the current mechanism is inadequate.”
“I therefore urge that it be reconfigured with the support and involvement of the international community,” he said.
He urged the UN rights council “to establish an international investigation into the human rights violations in Venezuela.”
Zeid also pointed out that Venezuela currently holds one of the 47 rotating seats on the Human Rights Council, and thus has a particular duty to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.”
Without naming Venezuela specifically, he also called on the council to consider “the need to exclude from this body states involved in the most egregious violations of human rights.”
UN warns of possible ‘crimes against humanity’ in Venezuela
UN warns of possible ‘crimes against humanity’ in Venezuela
’Level of violence’ in US ‘worrying’, Merz says after Minneapolis shooting
- German foreign ministry warned travelers to the United States to be “vigilant”
HAMBURG: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday called the “level of violence” in the United States “worrying” after US federal officers fatally shot a second protester in Minneapolis.
“I assume that the American authorities will now really investigate whether it was necessary to shoot... whether there really was a threat to the officers involved,” Merz said.
“In any case, I have to say that I find this level of violence in the US worrying, to put it mildly.”
Earlier on Monday, the German foreign ministry warned travelers to the United States to be “vigilant” and exercise increased caution because of “violent clashes with immigration and security authorities” in Minneapolis and other US cities.
“Remain calm and follow the instructions of the authorities and local security forces,” the updated travel advisory urges.
On Saturday, US Border Patrol officers shot and killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti on the fringes of a deportation raid in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Less than three weeks earlier, an ICE immigration officer shot and killed Renee Good, a mother of three, in the same city.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has sent thousands of federal officers to the Minneapolis area in a weeks-long operation that has been marked by mass protests.
