Venezuela is considered to be “a rogue state,” due to its consistent and aggressive refusal to support liberal international norms. On the UNHRC, Venezuela voted against a series of human rights resolutions concerning the human rights situations in Syria, Ukraine and North Korea. The only exceptions to this pattern were two votes on North Korea, in which Venezuela joined China and Russia in condemning the repression in the “Hermit Kingdom.” In all other cases of UNHRC regional votes and the UPR process, Venezuela allied itself with Russia, China, and Cuba in refusing to call out violations of political and civil rights, even in the most egregious cases. Within the region, Venezuela has pulled the country out of the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; contested the authority of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights to hear cases and make recommendations on human rights matters in Venezuela; refused to invite credible international election observers to monitor its electoral processes (preferring instead to invite the compliant UNASUR); and placed restrictions on local NGOs and their right to receive international support. On June 23, 2016, Venezuela led a failed attempt to block the presentation of a report on the situation in democracy in the country before the OAS Permanent Council.
Below is a breakdown of Venezuela’s actions and votes at the various venues we are monitoring. For more information click on each title and summary.
Scoreboard:
Freedom House | |
Freedom Status | Not Free |
Aggregate Score (100 is perfect freedom and protection of rights) | 16/100 |
Political Rights (scores out of 40, with 40 being the best) | 2/40 |
Civil Liberties (scores out of 60, with 60 being the best) | 14/60 |
Reporters Without Borders | |
World Press Freedom Index (scores out of 100, with 1 being the best) | 49.10 |
Transparency International | |
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) | 16/100 |
Global Rank | 173/180 |
World Justice Project [1] | |
Rule-of-Law Index | 0.27 |
Regional rank | 30/30 |
Global rank | 128/128 |
UN Human Development Index | |
Human Development Index | 0.711 |
Global rank | 113 |
Americas Quarterly [2] | |
Social Inclusion Index | N/A |
Regional rank | N/A |
United Nations System:
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC or Council)
Venezuela is a current member of the Council, having narrowly been elected in 2019 despite its poor human rights record. Its current term will expire in 2022. It was previously on the Council from 2013-2018 (Council sessions 22-33). On the Council, Venezuela has consistently voted against human rights on the issues of Syria and Ukraine, but has voted in favor of human rights in North Korea.
UNHRC’s Universal Periodic Review
As part of its mandate to promote human rights around the globe, the UNHRC has instituted a Universal Periodic Review, where, once every four years, each country’s human rights record is examined. Other countries are invited to review the record and make comments and suggestions for improvement. The country under review then acknowledges each comment by either “accepting” the comment, meaning typically that they agree to focus on, or “noting” it, indicating that they disagree and will not be focusing on improvements in this area.
UN NGO Committee
Venezuela is not currently on the committee.
Inter-American System:
OAS Permanent Council
Under the new leadership of Secretary General Luis Almagro, the OAS has re-found its focus on promoting democracy around the region. This was shown most clearly in a meeting in June 2016 where Almagro presented his report on the state of democracy in Venezuela and proposed invoking the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR or Commission)
Venezuela, along with the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, is one of the most uncooperative with the Commission, often sending representatives to disrupt the hearings and denounce the right of the Commission to hear and discuss the human rights situation in the country under the inter-American system of human rights.
Electoral Missions
The OAS has conducted a total of 11 electoral observation missions to Venezuela since 1992. The last electoral observation mission took place during the 2020 presidential election, where they passed a resolution declaring the elections in Maduro’s Venezuela to be fraudulent and reasserting that free and fair elections cannot be held in the country under current conditions. The OAS also monitored elections in 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1993, and 1992. Since then, election observation has been conducted by UNASUR, which has failed to recognize any pre-election or election-day problems, despite the state’s total control over most media, the flagrant use of state resources for partisanship and the disqualification of opposition candidates and opposition candidates’ results (all of which occurred during the 2015 National Assembly elections).
Freedom of Information Laws
Since 2000 the right to information and freedom of information laws have expanded across the region. However, the existence of the laws on the books does not necessarily mean full enforcement.
Women’s Rights:
Protecting women against gender-based violence is a human rights issue often overlooked globally even though it crosses social, economic and national boundaries. And according to the United Nations Population Fund, gender-based violence undermines the health, security, dignity, and autonomy of its victims. Although 16 countries in Latin America had modified their laws to include a specific type of crime referring to the murder of women by 2015, they are not uniformly implemented, and practices to convict perpetrators of gender-based violence are still extremely weak. A 2016 report published by the Small Arms Survey found that Latin America and the Caribbean is home to 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world.
Indigenous rights:
7.8 percent of the population in Latin America, roughly 41,813,039 people, identify as indigenous, 49 percent of them live in urban areas and 51 percent live in rural areas.
The Labour Organization’s Convention 169 (ILO 169)
The Labour Organization’s Convention 169 (ILO 169)—which has the status of an international treaty—establishes the right of indigenous and tribal peoples to be consulted when a policy or project affects their culture or heritage through what is commonly called “previous and informed consent.” The vaguely worded treaty has been a point of contention in some countries, among governments, investors and communities; and progress in implementing it has been uneven. The Convention has been interpreted, in particular, as applying to issues of national resource extraction and infrastructure development that affect communal lands. In Latin America 16 countries have signed ILO 169.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People’s (UNDRIP)
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007, all Latin American countries, except Colombia, which abstained, voted in favor of this declaration. The only four countries to initially reject this declaration were the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. While it is not a legally binding instrument, it is an “important standard” for the treatment of indigenous people. The declaration sets out the collective and individual rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education, and other issues. It prohibits discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them and their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social development. The end goal is to encourage countries to work alongside indigenous communities to solve global issues, like development, multicultural democracy and decentralization.
American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
In 2016, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples after a long negotiation of 17 years. The declaration recognizes the collective organization and multicultural character of Indigenous peoples, the self-identification of people who consider themselves indigenous and special protection for peoples in voluntary isolation or initial contact. However, the declaration was met with resistance by members of the Indigenous community, who complained that they did not have full participation in the negotiations and that the declaration rolled back several rights recognized in UNDRIP. The declaration does not mention the right to previous and informed consultation.
Previous to the declaration, in 1990, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had created the Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to devote attention to Indigenous Peoples in the Americas and to “strengthen, promote, and systemize the IACHR’s own work in this area. The current Rapporteur on the Right of Indigenous Peoples is Francisco José Eguiguren Praeli, Ambassador of Peru to Spain from 2012 to 2014 and Minister of the Office of Justice. He received a law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru with a master’s degree in Constitutional Law and a PhD in Humanities. Former Rapporteurs include, Rose-Marie Belle Antoine a former IACHR Commissioner and Dinah Shelton an international law consultant for the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme among other organizations.