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GENEVA / VENEZUELA HUMAN RIGHTS
STORY: GENEVA / VENEZUELA HUMAN RIGHTS
TRT: 2:21
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 JUNE 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
22 JUNE 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“This report, published today, spotlights the failure of Venezuelan authorities to hold accountable perpetrators of serious human rights violations that include killings, the use of excessive force against demonstrators, arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment and torture.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The new report also documents credible, shocking account of extrajudicial killings in the course of purported crime-fighting operations that have been carried out since 2015.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Witness accounts suggest that there is a pattern that took place during these operations. There were raids conducted in poor neighbourhoods to arrest the so-called criminals, without judicial warrant and there was a killing of young men, who fit the profile, in some cases, in their home. And finally, the security forces will tamper with the scenes, so that the killing would appear to have occurred in an exchange of fire.”
8. Med shot, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Under the previous Attorney-General, who was replaced in August 2017, 357 security officers were reportedly under investigation in relation to the killings. But since then, there has been no information publicly available about the cases.”
10. Med shot, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The failure to hold security forces accountable for such serious human rights violations suggests that the rule of law is virtually absent in Venezuela.”
12. Med shot, journalists
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Families are having to search for their food in the rubbish bins. By some measures, 87 per cent of the population is affected by poverty. The human rights situation of the people of Venezuela is dismal. When a box of blood pressure pills costs more than the monthly minimum salary and baby milk formula costs more two months’ wages, but protesting against such an impossible situation can land you in jail, the extreme injustice of it all is stark.”
14. Various shots, journalists
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said today (22 Jun) “credible, shocking accounts of extrajudicial killings” and impunity for perpetrators indicate that the rule of law “is virtually absent” and called for an international inquiry into the alleged violations.
UN High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s appeal to the UN Human Rights Council to mount a high-level investigation follows the publication of a new report by his office into the Latin American country detailing extremely serious rights abuse allegations.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani confirmed that the new OHCHR report provides an update on alleged abuses committed amid bloody demonstrations held against constitutional reforms proposed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Shamdasani said the report “spotlights the failure of Venezuelan authorities to hold accountable perpetrators of serious human rights violations that include killings, the use of excessive force against demonstrators, arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment and torture.”
On the subject of extrajudicial killings since 2015, the OHCHR spokesperson said that the report contained “credible, shocking accounts” that young men in poor neighbourhoods had been targeted “who fit the profile (of) so-called criminals.”
Shamdasani noted that in some cases young men had been killed in their home adding that the OHCHR report detailed how security forces “will tamper with the scenes, so that the killing would appear to have occurred in an exchange of fire.”
The report also highlights the grave impact of social and economic crisis in Venezuela. Shamdasani said families are having to search for their food “in the rubbish bins”, adding that 87 percent of the population is affected by poverty.
“The human rights situation of the people of Venezuela is dismal,” she continued. “When a box of blood pressure pills costs more than the monthly minimum salary and baby milk formula costs more two months’ wages, but protesting against such an impossible situation can land you in jail, the extreme injustice of it all is stark.”
The High Commissioner’s call for an international Commission of Inquiry will be heard by the Human Rights Council - the UN’s principal human rights organ – which is currently in session in Geneva. It has previously created two such probes on Syria and Burundi following allegations of serious rights violations.
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