Thread by @emiduarte

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' report on #Venezuela is summarized insight into the daily abuses on dignity that the Venezuelan state overtly sponsors but refuses to acknowledge, and the system of impunity that allows them to exist.
Highlights below👇 #InformeBachelet

1. Venezuelans face a range of interrelated violations of their economic and social rights. The minimum wage in April 2019 was estimated at 7 USD/month and only covered 4.7 % of the basic food basket, approximately four days of food per month. #InformeBachelet

2. Venezuelans face violations to the right to an adequate standard of living related to collapse of public transportation, access to electricity, water, and gas due to resource misallocation, corruption, lack of maintenance & severe underinvestment. #InformeBachelet

3. Venezuelans face violations of the right to food, due to scarcity, unaffordability, and report eating once, at most twice/day. The main food assistance program does't meet basic nutritional needs. Women spend 10hrs/day queuing for food & exchange sex for food. #InformeBachelet

4. Economic & social policies adopted by Chávez & Maduro govts undermined food production & distribution systems, increased number of people relying on food assistance programs. Around 3.7 million Venezuelans are malnourished, especially children & pregnant women.#InformeBachelet

5. Venezuelans face dire violations of the right to health due to widespread lack of access to essential medicines/treatment, deterioration of conditions in hospitals, insufficient provision of water/adequate nutrition, deterioration of immunization programs. #InformeBachelet

6. Previously controlled/eradicated diseases, including vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and diphtheria, have re-emerged in Venezuela. #InformeBachelet

7. Lack of access to contraceptives has increased risk of contracting HIV & other STD's, as well as of unwanted & teen pregnancies. The rate of teen pregnancies in Venezuela has increased by 65% since 2015. Pregnancy is primary reason girls drop out of school. #InformeBachelet

8. Between Nov. 2018-Feb. 2019, 1,557 people died due to lack of supplies in Venezuelan hospitals.
40 patients died as a result of the March 2019 power outages.
Families of patients have to provide all necessities, including water, gloves, and syringes. #InformeBachelet

9. The failure of the Venezuelan govt. to publish comprehensive data on public health, essential for the development and implementation of an adequate response to the health crisis, is a violation of the right to health. #InformeBachelet

10. Venezuelans face political discrimination & social control in accessing govt. programs, upon which they are increasingly reliant for access to minimum levels of income & food. The governing party monitors political activities of social program beneficiaries. #InformeBachelet

11. Peaceful anti-government protests & activism, especially led by women demanding access to basic goods & services, are suppressed by community leaders & pro-government civilian armed groups . Women who speak out are threatened & excluded from social programs. #InformeBachelet

12. The Venezuelan govt. blames economic crisis on sanctions, arguing they hinder the State’s ability to import food/medicines. The economy was already in crisis before any sanctions were imposed. The latest sanctions are exacerbating the humanitarian situation. #InformeBachelet

13. Venezuelans face violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Over the past years, the govt. has imposed a communicational hegemony by enforcing its own version of events and creating an environment that curtails independent media. #InformeBachelet

14. Over the past year alone, the Venezuelan govt. shut down radio stations and banned television channels, and closed dozens of print media outlets. Detention of journalists increased. Hundreds of Venezuelan journalists now live in exile. #InformeBachelet

15. The Internet/social media are main means of communication & information for Venezuelans. The govt. regularly blocks independent news sites & social media platforms. Internet speed is steadily decreasing. Expressing opinions incurs detentions/criminal charges. #InformeBachelet

16. Venezuelans face targeted repression & persecution on political grounds. Government-controlled institutions enforce laws/policies that have eroded the rule of law, dismantled democratic institutions, aimed at neutralizing & criminalizing political opponents. #InformeBachelet

17. In 2017, Maduro activated a civil-military strategic security plan for joint operation of armed forces, militias & civilians, which involves the increased militarization of State institutions, and extends the use of the population in intelligence gathering. #InformeBachelet

18. The Venezuelan security apparatus includes military/police forces, forensic agencies, intelligence/counterintelligence agencies. It is responsible for excessive use of force, numerous extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment and torture. #InformeBachelet

19. Armed civilian groups (colectivos) contribute to this system of persecution and repression of political opponents in Venezuela by exercising social control in local communities, and supporting security forces in terrorizing demonstrations and dissent. #InformeBachelet

20. Institutions responsible for the protection of human rights in Venezuela do not conduct prompt, effective, thorough, impartial & transparent investigations into crimes committed by the State, leading to impunity and the recurrence of violations. #InformeBachelet

21. Venezuelans face systematic criminalization of dissent: trade union leaders, health professionals, university staff, human rights defenders who criticize the govt. or protest for decent salaries & working conditions have been threatened, fired or detained. #InformeBachelet

22. As of June 2019, 22 opposition deputies of the Venezuelan National Assembly, including its President, have been stripped of their parliamentary immunity. 16 have sought protection in foreign Embassies, left the country, or gone into hiding. #InformeBachelet

23. Relatives of opposition politicians are victims of death threats, further harm to their families, surveillance, intimidation, harassment, interrogations without access to lawyers, ill-treatment and torture as a means to exert pressure and as punishment. #InformeBachelet

24. The Venezuelan NGO OVCS reported 14 deaths in the context of the 12,715 anti-government demonstrations in 2018, and OHCHR documented 66 deaths in the 9,715 protests between January and May 2019. #InformeBachelet

25. As of May 2019, there are 793 political prisoners in Venezuela, according to NGO Foro Penal. The govt. uses arbitrary detentions as one of the main means to intimidate/repress political opposition & any real/perceived expression of dissent since at least 2014.#InformeBachelet

26. Political prisoners in Venezuela are subjected to forms of torture/cruel, inhuman punishment: electric shocks, suffocation with plastic bags, water boarding, beatings, sexual violence, water & food deprivation, stress positions, extreme temperatures. #InformeBachelet

27. Security forces and intelligence services, in particular SEBIN and DGCIM, routinely resort to forms of torture and cruel, inhuman treatment to extract information and confessions, intimidate, and punish the detainees. #InformeBachelet

28. Authorities have failed to conduct investigations into credible allegations of torture, to bring perpetrators to justice & provide reparation to victims. Judicial authorities often reverse the burden of proof on victims & refuse to open investigations. #InformeBachelet

29. The Special Action forces, FAES, are used as an instrument to instill fear in the population and to maintain social control. They are reported to be responsible for hundreds of killings and consistently referred to as a “death squad” or “extermination group." #InformeBachelet

30. Six young men were executed by FAES in reprisal of their role in anti-government protests. The extrajudicial executions took place during illegal house raids. Crime scenes were manipulated to suggest confrontation, to show the victims had “resisted authority.”#InformeBachelet

31. The Venezuelan Attorney General has regularly failed to comply with his obligation to investigate or prosecute perpetrators, and consistently violates the principle of presumption of innocence. The Ombudsperson has remained silent re: human rights violations. #InformeBachelet

32. Families of victims interviewed by OHCHR consider financial support granted by the govt. Commission on Truth, Justice, Peace & Public Tranquillity as an attempt to buy their silence in the absence of an impartial truth-seeking, justice and reparation process. #InformeBachelet

33. The economic and social rights of indigenous peoples in Venezuela have been disproportionately affected by the crisis. Pemon communities who oppose the Government, particularly indigenous authorities and leaders, face targeted repression by State actors. #InformeBachelet

34. During the Feb 23 humanitarian aid airlift attempt, seven people were killed (4 indigenous) and 26 injured by gunshot, by military forces shooting indiscriminately. There are reports of a possible mass grave, which warrants further investigation. #InformeBachelet

35. Over 4 million people have fled the country as of June 2019. Venezuelans face obstacles to obtain documentation, a violation of their right to an identity. Migrants leaving/re-entering are victims of extortion & requisitions at the hands of the military. #InformeBachelet