Venezuela’s government has been intensifying efforts to reduce civic and democratic space, UN experts said Wednesday, voicing alarm at the situation in the run-up to elections next year.
A team tasked with probing alleged violations in Venezuela said that while it had received fewer allegations of gross human rights violations than previously, it saw indications of more “targeted” and increasingly intense attacks by authorities.
“Serious human rights violations are being committed to this day in Venezuela,” Marta Valinas, chair of the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, told reporters in Geneva.
“These violations are not isolated acts, but continue to reflect a policy to suppress dissent and opposition to the government,” she said.
Valinas said that in recent years, the incidents had become more targeted against certain union leaders, journalists and human rights defenders.
The mission, which was…
Source: Guardian Newspaper
