UN experts welcome release of human rights defenders in Venezuela
The experts urged to review these new regulations and prioritise attention to the crisis with a human rights-based approach.OHCHR | Geneva | Updated: 18-02-2021 23:09 IST | Created: 18-02-2021 23:09 IST
“We urge the authorities to drop the charges against the five human rights defenders of Azul Positivo,” the experts said. Image Credit: Pixabay
UN human rights experts today welcomed the release from detention of five human rights defenders and members of NGO Azul Positivo but urged Venezuelan authorities to stop the continuous and increasing attacks and intimidation against civil society organisations and journalists.
GENEVA (18 February 2021) – UN human rights experts today welcomed the release from detention of five human rights defenders and members of NGO Azul Positivo but urged Venezuelan authorities to stop the continuous and increasing attacks and intimidation against civil society organisations and journalists.
The five human rights defenders and members of Azul Positivo, who had been detained in Zulia state on 12 January 2021, were released on 10 February but the charges they faced, relating to terrorism, terrorism financing and money laundering, have not been dropped.
“The arrests and criminal charges are part of a pattern of increasing criminalisation of civil society organisations in Venezuela, which already operate under a repressive set of laws and regulations including the 2017 ‘Law Against Hate’ that restricts the exercise of their right to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, among others,” the experts said.
Venezuela: Human rights defenders released but charges remain; criminalisation of civil society must stop
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GENEVA (18 February 2021) – UN human rights experts today welcomed the release from detention of five human rights defenders and members of NGO Azul Positivo but urged Venezuelan authorities to stop the continuous and increasing attacks and intimidation against civil society organisations and journalists.
The five human rights defenders and members of Azul Positivo, who had been detained in Zulia state on 12 January 2021, were released on 10 February but the charges they faced, relating to terrorism, terrorism financing and money laundering, have not been dropped.
“The arrests and criminal charges are part of a pattern of increasing criminalisation of civil society organisations in Venezuela, which already operate under a repressive set of laws and regulations including the 2017 ‘Law Against Hate’ that restricts the exercise of their right to freedom of peacef
The recent, ongoing and unwarranted detention of five members of the Venezuelan NGO ‘Azul Positivo’ is one more event in a series of threats, harassment, attacks, restrictions, reprisals and criminal proceedings against Venezuelan civil society organizations and human rights defenders, which has been intensifying since November 2020. In recent months and weeks, state agents have forcibly entered the offices of civil society organizations; public threats have been made against defenders who have been engaging with human rights mechanisms, NGO bank accounts have been frozen and arrest warrants issued for aid workers.