Introduction
Human rights refer to a code that regards all human beings with value and dignity regardless of physical, political, religious, social, financial, racial, or any difference. The main concern of human rights is to treat all people fairly and equally and ensure that no human lives in fear of discrimination or harassment, or even death. Human rights refer to a set of fundamental rights equally accepted by everyone worldwide on how to treat human beings. Human rights should be mutual for all beings irrespective of age, gender, class, and background. Some of the fundamental human rights include the right to life, the right to express yourself freely, freedom of worship, rights to education and health, rights to adequate living standards, and freedom from torture (Dudai, p.274).
Human rights go back to ancient China, India, and Babylon. During this time, justice, ethical human behaviour, and dignity led to championing human rights. Likewise, different philosophers in the Mid-ages also promoted the natural law that championed human rights because they were human. In England, also in 121, the Magna Carta is a document that limited the power of kings subject to their people. Other human rights groups, including those from America and France in the seventeen hundreds. The groups promoted human rights, including but not limited to freedom of expression, freedom to a peaceful demonstration, freedom to ownership of property, freedom of religion, and fair trial.
The advanced social and educational progress and improved political rights led to the abolition of slavery in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; however, the level of international human rights involvement was significantly low. Different nations made their own rules that governed their borders, and other countries had no power to intervene even in situations where there was a human rights violation. However, the events during World War II and human rights violations raised international concern for a body that championed the development of universal human rights. During world war II in Germany, soldiers violated the human rights of certain groups, including the opponents, Jews, homosexuals, and communists who were enslaved or killed in cold blood. The Japanese invasion of China also saw many prisoners being enslaved with little food and no medical care. Therefore in 1941, President Roosevelt declared that all people around the world should have four freedoms, freedom from harm and fear, freedom of belief, and freedom of speech. The war’s aftermath led to the United Nations organization’s development in 1945 to ensure adherence to human rights, peace and security, international law, and economic development (Dudai, p.274).
Today promoting human rights in our society is essential in achieving peace, unity, and economic development. Despite international efforts to curb human rights violations, there exist challenges to achieving this goal. In this paper, we will assess the situation of human rights in Venezuela to assess the issues revolving around human rights and the setbacks towards achieving a sustained human rights level today.
Background
Human rights practices in Venezuela date back to its previous leadership coupled with dictatorship and human rights violations. For Instance, in 1988, October, Venezuela through its military unit, killed fourteen fishers in Apure state in cold blood and claimed the fishers were neither from Colombia nor Venezuela and were a militia group that attacked them with grenades and guns with a gunfire exchange between the two groups. That case was presented to the American Court of Human Rights and adjourned in 1996, where the court ordered Venezuela to compensate the next of kin and other surviving victims of the massacre (Bolívar, p. 268).
The Venezuelan government also failed to address the caracazo issue since 1989, when people were killed while protesting the government’s reform to increase gas prices and transportation. Many people were killed by the military and security forces that responded to the protests. All Venezuelan governments that came after failed to investigate that issue even after human rights courts and groups instructed them to settle the case. It was until 2009 that the serving minister of defence was charged subject to the Caracazo injustices against human rights. The history of political instability in the country, especially in the 1992 coup attempts, triggered human rights violations.
In 1992 there were two failed coup attempts by Hugo Chavez, and forty people were killed in resisting the coup, either through excessive use of force by the military or extrajudicial killings of rebels. After the coup, many were falsely detained by student leaders and civic leaders who had no connection to it. During the two incidences, people were denied freedom of expression for over two months in the first case and over three weeks in the second case. In March and April of the same year, protests aimed at pushing President Andres Perez to resign received a backlash after being met with violence with police shooting at the crowds, resulting in thirteen deaths. The police also harmed the members of the press that were covering the protests. The president also violated the human rights of those who took part in the coup attempt by trying them through the ad hoc courts, which denied the victims the request to be tried by one national judge and the right to defence (Bolívar, p. 269).
According to the Human House human rights group, the freedom ratings in Venezuela fell a while after the election of Hugo Chavez. The Amnesty International group criticized Chavez’s administration for handling the 2000 coup since the investigations into the matter were not well addressed, and the victims were awarded for rights violations. The group raised concern about possible future rights violations by the perpetrators if no action is taken against them, especially in the political arena. During the 2004 recall, the Venezuelan National Guard and other security forces used too much power to control the protests, and protesters were intentionally detained for more extended periods before being presented in court. Subject to the historical events in Venezuela that resulted in the violation of human rights, Venezuela was ranked the minor democratic nation in the southern American countries. In 2008 Venezuela did not make it on the list of countries with electoral democracy by the Freedom House group. Likewise, in 2009 the Venezuelan government was listed as a dictatorship state by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Scheer and Andrea, p.345).
Between 2011 and 2014, the United Nations reported over thirty-one thousand and ninety-six human rights violations complaints, and the relevant ministry did not correctly address more than three per cent of the protests. In 2013 to a report by the Freedom House, the sitting president received backlash for selective law enforcement and the use of the government to silence the opposition as a way of minimizing its role in keeping the government in check. In 2014 the Venezuelan government violated human rights when security forces handling protesters used bullets on civilians and tortured the protesters. The media was not allowed to cover protests, and media members were even attacked and injured by police. The government was also tolerant of militia groups that supported the government, yet the groups violated the rights of people under the government’s watch.
Today’s human rights practices in Venezuela are worse affected by the past regime because the country has always been under a dictatorship by its leaders. Most of the presidents in Venezuela had had little or no regard for the human rights of the people; many times, protests were met with violence from the military and the security forces. There have been many governments and pro-government militia group killing cases, yet the government has not addressed them. The issue of contempt of court by the government is one of the significant reasons why Venezuela is still having problems with human rights practices. The government has received and ignored orders by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights court. The government’s use of excessive power to counter opposition and to detain people without trial is the background of the rampant human rights violation cases witnessed in Venezuela today.
Current human rights practices
In the past five years, the injustices against human rights by the Venezuelan government under the leadership of Nicolas Maduro have continued. There have been extrajudicial killings, imprisonment of opponents, prosecuting civilians in military courts, torturing and shooting protesters, and injustices against press members. For Instance, in 2020, the government took advantage of the state of emergency due to covid-19 to control people. Venezuela lacks an independent judicial system resulting from state capture, which has led to increased human rights violations by the current and past governments. The government has committed crimes that the United Nations Fact Finding Missions terms crimes against humanity which has prompted international human rights organizations like the international criminal court to investigate the possibility of such crimes in Venezuela (Scheer and Andrea, p.345).
The Independent European Union, an electoral monitoring mission that monitored the regional elections in November this year, noted that government opponents are disqualified from vying and lack media coverage (Knight and Tribin, p.455). There have been concerns about policies that oppress the opponents while favouring those that support the government. Human rights defenders and the media have also been persecuted on several occasions. The number of Venezuelans running away from humanitarian emergency and political oppression has been the highest in the history of Latin America. The government has jailed opponents without trial. For Instance, Freddy Guevara was arrested and charged with terrorism, treason, and supporting gangs that attacked the police in Caracas. Freddy Guevara, the leader of the Popular Will party, was detained for over one month without trial and was only released on the condition that he reports to the court every thirty days.
The National Intelligence and security forces have detained and tortured opponents and their supporters. According to the Office of the United Nations through their Commission, in 2020, reports showed that detainees were subjected to suffocation, electrocution, intense beatings, and much more. Security forces have often attacked and even killed protesters and raided homes of opposition. The government has also deployed the pro-government militia to attack and injure protesters while the government protects them. According to the Human Rights Commission’s office, security forces and the police killed more than nineteen thousand people between 2016 and 2019. The reports show that the killings have slightly gown down today but have not stopped since the perpetrators have been part of the previous regimes. The military has continued its operations on low-income communities while detaining, torturing, and killing them with a narrative of liberating them.
The government has supported different militia groups, including the Patriotic Forces of National Liberation, Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia, and the National Liberation Army, that have tortured and terrorized people on behalf of the government to instil fear in them to remain loyal to the government. These militia groups, together with the government forces, have violated the rights of the people through killings, stealing, and raping of women and children. The government has often worked with the militia group to terrorize residents. In 2021 during an operation that lasted for a week, the security forces abused the residents of Apure state where at least four people were killed in cold blood, many were tortured on allegations of collaborating with the militia, and others were prosecuted in military courts. The United Nations High commissioner for Refugees reported that at least five thousand eight hundred people ran to Colombia for refuge due to continued persecutions from the government and the militia (Galavís and Natalia, p. 68).
The violation of the environment and human rights has continued due to deforestation resulting from increased mining activities in the country. The region North of Bolivar has lost over two hundred and thirty thousand hectares of forest cover since President Maduro created a special mining zone in 2016. The mining operation covers more than twenty thousand hectares of the selected region. Mining has harmed the lives of those in that area resulting from the adverse effects of deforestation, environmental pollution, and displacement. The cases of mercury poisoning in this region have gone high since the project’s inception, which did not consult the locals. There has been an increase in malaria infection among the residents of Bolivar from stagnant water pools left after mining. The malaria infection rate in Bolivar has been the highest among all other states accounting for fifty-five per cent of all national malaria cases (Correa-Salazar, Catalina, and Joseph, p 8).
Armed groups illegally control the gold mining in Bolivar from Colombia and other local criminal groups. Therefore the groups have imposed unconducive working conditions for the locals where often the locals are accused of stealing from the militia, which is met by death or cutting off limbs to instil fear in others. The government, local militia, and the Colombian gangs have continued to be the leading operators of the gold mines while brutally treating the locals for their benefit. The judiciary is not independent, and thus victims of human rights violence can’t receive justice in the public courts of law. The opponents are denied voting rights in parliament, while their positions in committees are taken by their counterparts that support the government. Venezuela does not have sufficient food for its people. Coupled with the effect of covid-19, the country needs urgent assistance. Over nine point three million people in 2019 lacked food security, which was likely to increase over the years. According to UNICEF, over five point eight per cent of children screened were malnourished, with over one point five per cent being severely malnourished in a report from January to June 2021 Scheer and Andrea, p.345).
The government, through its system, has ruled out human rights defenders from helping the individuals or organizations in the country. The media and the people do not have the freedom of expression since any efforts to express themselves be met with cruelty from the government forces. The number of Venezuelan refugees was estimated at twenty per cent of the total population in 2014; however, during the covid-19 period, approximately one hundred and fifty-one thousand Venezuelans returned home within one year from 2020 to 2021.
As a result of increased international events, international human rights organizations such as the international criminal court have launched an investigation into the possibility of crimes against humanity committed by the government and pro-government militia. However, the ICC prosecutor concluded in June 2021 that the government and relevant authorities were unwilling to investigate and solve cases against human rights. The justice system has also played a significant role in suppressing justice and has taken part in human rights violations. According to reports by the United Nations Human Rights Council, Venezuela has done so little in implementing the recommendation from their initial reports. The sanctions toward Venezuela have led to increased social and economic crises. The World Food Programme, after over a year of negotiation with the government to allow it to supply food to children. The World Food Programme targets over one hundred and eighty-five thousand children from Venezuela to benefit from the program (Okuneva and Liudmila, p.106).
Different governments, especially the United States and Colombia, offer temporary protected status to Venezuelan refugees. The United States, in March 2021, announced that it would offer Venezuelans in America a one-and-a-half year temporary protected status while the Colombian government granted one point of seven million Venezuelans a ten years legal status. The government of Colombia offered the same level to those who came to Colombia through lawful means in two years. Other governments and institutions have sanctioned officials from Venezuela that are part of the human rights violations or corruption. For Instance, the United States has frozen accounts belonging to officials implicated in such abuses and even cancelled their Visas. Venezuela has also received financial sanctions for its stock dealing from the United States Okuneva and Liudmila, p.106).
Today Joe Biden, through his administration, has criticized such abuses by Maduro’s government and promised to lift the sanctions if there was significant progress toward the fight against human rights injustices in Venezuela. The European Union has also publicly condemned the human rights abuses in Venezuela while Calling on Maduro to respect human life. The European Union also is taking part in finding a political solution to the problems that Venezuela is facing today. Norway, Mexico, Netherlands, and Russia have been at the forefront of negotiations to find a permanent solution to the human rights problem in Venezuela. Many other countries and organizations are stepping in with donations meant to help over seven million people facing a humanitarian crisis as of 2020.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that the country’s human rights practices are still wanting. The rates of extrajudicial killings by the government and pro-government militia are a significant concern for the people of Venezuela and other international communities as they try to move the country into a desirable human rights practice. The human rights practices of Venezuela are still backward and greatly hinder the country’s economic development and sustained growth for its people. State capture and dictatorship, coupled with the lack of an independent judicial system, have significantly increased human injustices against its people; this has led to a lack of human and environmental rights. The right to vote in Venezuela is constricted to supporting the government, while those in opposition have no right to vote. Poor human rights practices in this country have resulted in humanitarian emergence and a surge in the cases on Covid-19 during the pandemic. The situation in Venezuela has resulted in an environmental problem and a prevalence of diseases, including malaria and Covid-19. The lack of a proper system to govern the country’s resources has led to an economic drain on Colombian and local cartels in the mining sector.
The background of the human rights practices in Venezuela today is drawn from the past leadership that has disregarded human rights, selfish interest, corruption, and dictatorship that has seen the country stripped of its resources for the benefit of a few groups. The country’s military leadership from the late nineteen hundreds has resulted in inherited bad governance with disregard for people’s rights. Venezuela’s progress towards positive practices in people’s rights is evident since the country has been in talks with other states to work on a permanent political solution. The government has also partnered with organizations like the World Food Programme to achieve sustainable food for its citizens, especially children facing hunger crises.
Venezuela being part of the European Union, has taken part in the steps laid down by the Union in ensuring that Venezuela achieves desired human rights practices and likewise takes a step towards self-sustenance. The country is faced with sanctions and other restrictions on officials involved in human rights abuses and corruption to curb such practices and promote peace and security, an essential aspect of economic growth and development. The situation of the human rights practice in Venezuela is a significant concern today because human beings have rights they should respect. Failure to adhere to human rights practices can cause a country or region to be backward in terms of development due to the adverse effects of the human rights violation. Increased number of refugees, high level of corruption, extrajudicial killing, environmental pollution, insecurity, lack of judicial independence, and lack of freedom of speech and vote are some of the negative implications of alarming human rights practice.
Good human rights practice is desirable today because they enable a country or state to achieve peace and security. A peaceful and secure environment will lead to desirable political stability, allowing investors, other governments, and Non-governmental organizations to venture. Likewise, a country can achieve economic growth and sustainability for its citizens through investment. The desired human rights also are essential in that they promote democracy whereby individuals have the freedom to choose leaders who can work for them and drive their economy towards the desired levels. Human life is sacred; therefore, respecting one another’s energy through a well-developed human rights practice is essential.
Works Cited
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Correa-Salazar, Catalina, and Joseph J. Amon. “Cross-border COVID-19 spread amidst malaria re-emergence in Venezuela: a human rights analysis.” Globalization and Health 16.1 (2020): 1-8.
Dudai, Ron. “The Study of Human Rights Practice: State of the Art.” Journal of Human Rights Practice 11.2 (2019): 273-295.
Galavís, Natalia Gan. “The rule of law crisis, militarization of citizen security, and effects on human rights in Venezuela.” European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies/Revista Europea De Estudios Latinoamericanos Y Del Caribe 109 (2020): 67-86.
Knight, Brian, and Ana Tribin. “Opposition Media, State Censorship, And Political Accountability: Evidence From Chavez’S Venezuela.” The World Bank Economic Review, vol 36, no. 2, 2021, pp. 455-487. Oxford University Press (OUP), https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhab018.
Okuneva, Liudmila. “Venezuela In The Contemporary World.” Latinskaia Amerika, no. 7, 2022, p. 106. The Russian Academy Of Sciences, https://doi.org/10.31857/s0044748x0020683-0.
Scheer, Andrea I. “Venezuela: A Uniquely Senian Insight into a Human Rights Crisis.” Brook. J. Int’l L. 44 (2018): 345.
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