Renewal of the UN Mission in
Venezuela is necessary for victims

The Fact-Finding Mission is a mechanism established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2019 to investigate serious human rights violations that have occurred since 2014 to ensure full accountability and justice for victims.

In its first report, the Mission investigated 223 cases and conducted 274 interviews with victims, witnesses, family members, former State officials, lawyers, representatives of non-governmental organizations and international staff.

In a second report, the Mission analyzed 183 arrests of opponents or perceived opponents that took place between 2014 and August 2021, with the aim of assessing the time, manner and circumstances in which the arrests, detentions and judicial proceedings took place.

For this purpose, it conducted a documentary review of thousands of pages of court files, conducted 177 interviews including personnel who worked within the justice system agencies during the period covered by the Mission’s mandate.

There are still facts to investigate:

There is a lack of research on the chains of command and the way in which state forces operate in the commission of serious violations. Complex phenomena must also be investigated in some areas within the country.

No progress has yet been made in the role that corruption plays in the commission of crimes and the differentiated impact of serious human rights violations on vulnerable groups such as women and indigenous communities must be investigated.

HOPE FOR VICTIMS

For some victims, the Mission’s reports are the first place in which they could see an impartial investigation into the events that occurred to them or their relatives.

THE RENEWAL OF THE MISSION IS NECESSARY

The structural impunity and the lack of reparation mechanisms that motivated the members of the Council to create the Mission persist. The existence of the Mission is essential to generate conditions for the resolution of the political crisis, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition for the victims.