Ongoing state-led repression and systematic human rights violations in Venezuela may amount to crimes against humanity.

BACKGROUND:

Following years of the gradual erosion of the rule of law and democratic space, in 2014 mass protests erupted in Venezuela in response to insecurity, hyperinflation and a lack of essential services. Security forces reacted with disproportionate force, torture and sexual violence. Similar patterns of violations and abuses were perpetrated by state agents during subsequent protests, including in 2019 when the start of President Nicolás Maduro’s second term sparked an intense struggle with the opposition, causing a protracted political crisis. Through a policy designed to repress political dissent, the Venezuelan government, including its security and intelligence apparatus, have perpetrated systematic arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, sexual and gender-based violence and short-term enforced disappearances targeting actual and perceived opponents.

Various security forces have also allegedly perpetrated tens of thousands of extrajudicial killings in the name of combating crime. Venezuelan human rights project Lupa por La Vida documented 824 alleged extrajudicial executions in 2022 alone. Most victims were men between 18 and 30 living in low-income neighborhoods.

In 2019 the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) authorized the creation of an independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Venezuela. The FFM has established that some violations and abuses committed since at least 2014 were part of a “widespread and systematic attack” against the civilian population that may amount to crimes against humanity. Evidence collected by the FFM implicated President Maduro, other high-level government officials and members of his inner circle in directly selecting and framing targets to be arbitrarily detained and tortured. In September 2022 the FFM warned that patterns of detention, torture and other violations continue “as part of a plan orchestrated at the highest levels of the government to repress dissent through crimes against humanity.”

The multidimensional crisis has left millions of Venezuelans unable to access basic services, including healthcare and nutrition and has triggered the largest migration crisis in Latin America. An estimated 7.1 million people have left the country since 2014, many of whom remain in need of assistance.

Several governments, including Canada and Switzerland, have enforced an extensive individual sanctions regime. Since 2017 the European Union (EU) has maintained sanctions against 55 senior government officials. The United States (US) government has also imposed targeted sanctions against the Venezuelan government, as well as broader sanctions that have exacerbated the country’s humanitarian crisis. In November 2021 the International Criminal Court (ICC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Venezuela and announced the opening of an investigation into possible crimes against humanity.

Communities across Venezuela are also at heightened risk of egregious abuses by non-state armed groups or criminal gangs, acting at times with the consent and direct involvement of Venezuelan state agents implicated in possible crimes against humanity. Clashes between armed groups along the border with Colombia have resulted in mass displacement, civilian fatalities, disappearances and the forced recruitment of children. In Venezuela’s gold mining region, Arco Minero del Orinoco, state agents and armed criminal groups are committing killings, sexual and gender-based violence, torture, corporal punishment and disappearances, including against indigenous populations.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

Over the past year, the government has systematically restricted civic space and limited the work of human rights defenders, independent media and civil society, including through harassment and persecution. On 24 January 2023 the ruling-party dominated National Assembly provisionally approved draft legislation aimed at essentially criminalizing the work of civil society organizations. A draft of the International Cooperation Law – which would also negatively impact the work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) – is pending approval. On 22 March the FFM warned that if the legislation is approved, the regulations will consolidate abusive state control over the work of NGOs, many of which are the primary providers of assistance and relief.

On 7 October 2022 the HRC renewed the FFM and the reporting and technical cooperation mandate of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for an additional two years. During his first visit to Caracas on 26 January 2023 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, welcomed the Venezuelan government’s decision to extend OHCHR presence in Venezuela for two years.

On 26 November government and opposition delegates resumed political negotiations within the purview of the Mexico Dialogue and signed a first “social agreement,” which aims to ensure UN supervision of unfrozen funds directed to address dire humanitarian needs. On 25 April 2023 Colombia hosted an international summit (Bogotá summit) to build a roadmap for further political dialogue with key high-level stakeholders, including the US, Brazil, Argentina and the EU, among others.

ANALYSIS:

The Venezuelan government is deliberately pursuing policies that enable human rights violations and abuses to silence dissent. Extrajudicial killings reduced following the publication of the FFM’s first report in September 2020, suggesting a possible deterrent effect of international scrutiny. However, no structural changes have been implemented to the country’s judiciary, intelligence or security sector and state actors continue to perpetrate systematic abuses, including against human rights defenders. Sexual and gender-based violence has been deliberately perpetrated in the context of arbitrary detentions and to ensure control over profitable territory, including the Arco Minero region. The systematic crackdown on civic space is a deliberate strategy by the government to increase repression ahead of presidential elections in 2024, as well as parliamentary, municipal and governorship elections in 2025.

Venezuela’s judicial system is perpetuating impunity for possible atrocity crimes committed by security and intelligence forces. Domestic investigations – undertaken to minimize international scrutiny – remain limited in scope and only target low-level perpetrators. Government-linked media outlets also play a key role in state repression and persecution.

The ICC’s decision to open an investigation is an important step in advancing accountability efforts. Independent monitoring, including by the FFM, is essential to prevent the recurrence of crimes against humanity and alert the international community to appropriate prevention and response strategies.

RISK ASSESSMENT:

• • Senior government officials involved in the planning and commission of violent acts, including possible crimes against humanity, to crush political dissent and combat crime.
  • Lack of independent and impartial judiciary, as well as impunity for or tolerance of serious violations of international law, including atrocity crimes, emboldens perpetrators to continue systematic violations.
  • Shrinking civic space and adoption of measures to criminalize civil society organizations, particularly ahead of the scheduled presidential and general elections in 2024 and 2025.
  • Absence of accountable state authority, high levels of crime and illicit economic exploitation in large parts of the country.
  • Targeting of indigenous peoples by state and non-state actors aiming to control territory and resources.

NECESSARY ACTION:

Venezuelan authorities must immediately end the systematic repression of actual or alleged opponents and civil society. The government should also commit to genuine and comprehensive intelligence, security sector and judicial reform and ensure impartial investigations of all serious violations and abuses, including at the highest level. The government should grant the FFM unrestricted access and implement its recommendations.

Technical cooperation, including through OHCHR, should be based on the FFM’s recommendations on necessary system-wide reform, as well as address risk factors and institutional weaknesses that have facilitated the commission of atrocity crimes. As regional actors and other states seek to normalize political and economic engagement with the Maduro government, they should exert diplomatic pressure to ensure the government commits to these reforms.

Multilateral efforts to support the Mexico Dialogue must prioritize human rights protections while addressing structural risk factors and focusing on electoral reform ahead of the 2024 and 2025 elections.