VenEconomy: The Government of Venezuela Cannot Escape International Scrutiny! From the Editors of VenEconomy Latin American Herald Tribune June 2, 2015
One of the many tasks that the government of the late Hugo Chávez, and now that of Nicolás Maduro, has undertaken all these years is to have condemned the international bodies ensuring the human rights and freedoms of citizens endorsed by the State of Venezuela.
In January 2012, for example, he denounced the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention, a body that both countries and companies turn to for the resolution of disputes related to foreign investment, thus creating a vacuum in the mechanisms or means through which investors are able to settle possible discrepancies in their contracts with the Venezuelan State. Similarly, in September 2013, the Venezuelan State opted out of the inter-American human rights system after a complaint by Chávez to withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights took effect.
However, in today’s globalized world, it is nearly impossible that states can escape international scrutiny, especially in everything that relates to human rights, drug-trafficking, money laundering or terrorism.
Evidence of this is the one-year deadline set by the UN so that Venezuela’s current ombudsman, Tarek William Saab, proves the autonomy of his office with respect to the National Executive and its political process, and explains why he remained silent before the decision of Venezuela to withdraw from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; the repeated threats of Maduro against union leaders; the trials of civilians before military courts and the arbitrary arrests of opposition leaders.
The Venezuelan government could neither escape the scrutiny of an evaluation regularly carried out by the UN, with the participation of a committee of independent experts to assess compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which States have made a commitment.
Venezuela was to be evaluated by three UN bodies, and on three occasions, on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) was the first test to overcome by the Venezuelan State, because it had to respond to the allegations made by Venezuela’s National Workers Union (UNETE) regarding the persecution of workers and trade unionists, the arrests and open trials against them and a persistent reluctance of the Government to discuss and endorse collective agreements of the public sector. Other allegations the Government was to face are those related to sex discrimination and the non-release of information with regard to social indicators.
Then it would deal with ICESCR experts and respond to the multiple allegations of Venezuelan NGOs regarding the serious problem of food and medicine shortages affecting the Venezuelan population, soaring inflation that may reach three digits by the end of the year, and an upsurge of poverty, which has left thousands of Venezuelans without anything to eat or denied them access to decent housing. Allegations that have been documented by non-profit organizations such as Provea, Espacio Público, Venezuela Diversa, Asamblea de Educación, among others.
And the last test to pass was a debate with the Committee on Civil and Political Rights on the lack of independence of the Judiciary, the criminalization of protests, the situation of national prisons and the brutal repression by police and military forces during the peaceful demonstrations that took place in 2014.
Now we need to monitor compliance with the recommendations to the State made by this specific body, because all of them are binding.
Editor’s Note: Detailed description of the tests, the reports submitted by the State and Civil Society, as much as information on the program, course and test results can be found on www.examenonuvenezuela.com.
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