Venezuela Suspends OHCHR's Advisory Activities in Caracas

On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil announced that Venezuelaz decided to suspend the activities of the Technical Advisory Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Caracas.

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In the next 30 days, the Venezuelan government will carry out a comprehensive review of the terms of technical cooperation described in the Letter of Understanding signed with the OHCHR.

For this reason, the Foreign Affairs Ministry asked the OHCHR personnel to leave the country in the next 72 hours, "until they publicly rectify before the international community their colonialist, abusive and violating attitude of the United Nations Charter."

Gil explained that the previous decisions occur due to the improper role that the OHCHR has been carrying out as if it were the sounding board of the Venezuelan far-right, which has been planning five political destabilization plots in this South American country.

"The Office of the High Commissioner has maintained a clearly biased and partial position, constantly seeking to generate impunity for people involved in various assassination attempts, coups d'état, conspiracies and other serious attacks against the Venezuelan sovereignty and constitution, despite the damage that this type of criminal practices can generate on the peace and coexistence of a society," the Foreign Affairs Minister said.

"Venezuelan institutions have proceeded with patience and through dialogue, trying again and again to redirect the OHCHR actions towards respect for truth, international legality, and the norms ruling the treatment of human rights issues," he added.

Gil noted that the disinformation campaign about the human rights situation in Venezuela occurs precisely at a time when the world is witnessing the genocide that Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinian people.

Nevertheless, the human righs international bureaucracy acts with "a double standard" as it remains unmoved by the murder of over 10,000 Palestinian children and does not forcefully request an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

"On the other hand, the Office of the High Commissioner is very active in falsifying facts and prequalifying situations in relation to Venezuela, only to attack the sovereignty and self-determination of the country with lies, falsifications, disinformation and manipulations."

"With this performance, typical of the formulas of judicial colonialism, the OHCHR not only violates the UN Charter but also flagrantly fails to comply with the obligations contained in the Letter of Understanding signed with Venezuela and in UN General Assembly's Resolution 48/141, according to which the High Commissioner must 'respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and internal jurisdiction of the States'," the Venezuelan diplomacy pointed out

Although Venezuela suspends the activities of the OHCHR office in Caracas, Foreign Minister Gil confirmed that the Venezuelan state has every willingness to continue cooperating with international mechanisms and regimes for human rights protection. 

This will happen "always on the basis of genuine dialogue and in strict adherence to the principles of objectivity, non-selectivity, impartiality, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs," he pointed out.