Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is scheduled to speak on February 15 at the U.N. Security Council. His topic: “respect for the principles and purposes” of the U.N. Charter as they relate to “international peace and security.” Maduro is expected to defend—as the Venezuelan ambassador to the U.N. regularly does—the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries as a key component of international relations.
Indeed, these concepts are enshrined in the U.N. Charter. But they are not meant to serve the purpose for which the Venezuelan government regularly invokes them: as a blank check for governments to violate the rights of their citizens. Speaking out in defense of universal human rights is not interference in a country’s internal affairs.
While Maduro speaks in New York, the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López sits in prison after a conviction based on baseless, politically motivated charges. Other prominent opposition politicians face groundless criminal prosecutions and have been arbitrarily barred from running for office. Leading independent media outlets are being prosecuted for defamation after reprinting articles that detail allegations that the powerful Chavista politician Diosdado Cabello has links to drug cartels. Government officials harass human rights defenders for participating in hearings before UN human rights bodies. And serious violations by Venezuelan security forces go unpunished, given the judiciary’s lack of independence.
The Venezuelan government has fought hard to obstruct international scrutiny of its poor human rights record. It has refused to allow the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and UN rapporteurs to visit the country for more than a decade. It withdrew from the American Convention on Human Rights in 2012, depriving Venezuelans who suffer abuses of the ability to seek protection from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. And it rejected key recommendations issued during the 2011 Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record, including recommendations to respect judicial independence and protect free speech.
Venezuela has also consistently opposed international efforts to protect human rights in other countries. At the UN Human Rights Council, Venezuela has repeatedly voted against resolutions aimed at addressing serious human rights violations, including country-specific resolutions on North Korea, Syria, and Sri Lanka. Its record on resolutions relating to specific countries is identical to those of Russia, China, and Cuba, making its stance among the weakest of the Rights Council’s membership.
All of this is consistent with a government that has supported some of the worst human rights violators in recent times. In fact, former President Hugo Chávez was a vocal supporter of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, bestowing upon each of these leaders the “Order of the Liberator,” Venezuela’s highest official honor. Maduro, Chávez’s handpicked successor, Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked successor who took office in 2013, has been a staunch and uncritical supporter of al-Assad, even as Syria’s government has committed war crimes and other widespread violations that have devastated the country.
Maduro’s predictable speech at the Security Council comes at a time when the Venezuelan government has little international credibility left. His blatant attempt to misuse the principle of non-interference to shield Venezuela’s deplorable human rights record—along with those of Venezuela’s political allies— from scrutiny cannot be taken seriously and should be universally rejected.
Jose Miguel Vivanco is Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
