More than 120 national and international organizations on Wednesday urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to renew the mission that investigates human rights violations in Venezuela
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th August, 2022) More than 120 national and international organizations on Wednesday urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to renew the mission that investigates human rights violations in Venezuela.
"The United Nations Human Rights Council should renew the mandate of its Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, 125 national and international organizations working on Venezuela said today. The Mission, established in 2019 to investigate systematic human rights violations in Venezuela, has played a key role in pushing for accountability for serious crimes in the country and ensuring international scrutiny over the ongoing crisis," Human Rights Watch said, referring to a joint statement.
The mission's experts are scheduled to submit their third report at the 51st session of the Human Rights Council from September 12 to October 7, 2022, in order to secure a resolution to extend the mandate, which expires this September.
The organizations are also calling for an extension of the mission's mandate due to the upcoming presidential elections in 2024, and legislative and regional elections in 2025, as political repression peaked during past election periods.
The mission was founded in 2019 to investigate extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, and other crimes committed in Venezuela since 2014. In 2020, the mission stated that high-ranking officials were aware of these crimes but did not take action to stop them.
