GENEVA / VENEZUELA ELECTIONS

A spokesperson for the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) said the “wishes of the Venezuelan people to participate or not” in Sunday’s elections “need to be respected.” UNTV CH

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:33
• Production Date: 28 July 2017
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - OHCHR
• Subject Topical: ELECTIONS; HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: VENEZUELA
• MAMS Id: 1941323
• Parent Id: 1941323
• Alternate Title: unifeed280717a

Description

STORY: GENEVA / VENEZUELA ELECTIONS
TRT: 01:33
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 28 JULY 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Shotlist

RECENT - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations exterior

28 JULY 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz Throssell, spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We are deeply concerned at the risk of further violence in Venezuela, where elections for the Constituent Assembly convened by President Nicolas Maduro are due to be held on Sunday. The wishes of the Venezuelan people to participate or not in this election need to be respected. No one should be obliged to vote, while those willing to take part should be able to do so freely.”
4. Close up, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz Throssell, spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I think in view of the demonstrations that have been ongoing, it is a very tense and a very difficult situation. So I think with respect to that it has been very difficult and that’s why we are so concerned for example that there is a ban on demonstrations from today until 1 August. We’ve repeatedly called on the government, as you’ve highlighted, to guarantee the freedom of peaceful assembly and association. That is something that we are repeating now. We are speaking out now because given the hugely tense situation that Venezuela is in, we really want to repeat our call for calm and for peaceful protest, and we are calling on all sides, as we have repeatedly done, to use only peaceful means to make their views heard.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz Throssell, spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We hope that the poll scheduled for Sunday, if it goes ahead, will proceed peacefully and in full respect of human rights.”
8. Various shots, journalists

Storyline

A spokesperson for the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) said the “wishes of the Venezuelan people to participate or not” in Sunday’s elections “need to be respected.”

Speaking to reporters in Geneva today (28 Jul), OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell said her office was “deeply concerned at the risk of further violence in Venezuela” where elections for the Constituent Assembly convened by President Nicolas Maduro are due to be held on Sunday. She added that “no one should be obliged to vote, while those willing to take part should be able to do so freely.”

Reports indicate that some 100 people have been killed in demonstrations against the authorities in the South American state since April. Throssell said the situation is “very tense” adding that OHCHR is concerned regarding the ban on demonstrations put in place by the Government until the first of August. OHCHR called on the Government to “guarantee the freedom of peaceful assembly and association” while calling on protesters to “use only peaceful means to make their views heard.”

Throssell hoped that if the poll scheduled for Sunday goes ahead, it “will proceed peacefully and in full respect of human rights.”