Venezuela was excluded from the most important UN body on human rights after a vote on Tuesday that favored Costa Rica and Chile, countries that will occupy the two seats disputed by three countries.
Venezuela obtained a seat on the Council in 2019 and hoped to keep it after the election of the 193 UN member states. Representing Latin America, however, there were only two vacancies, which ultimately favored Costa Rica and Chile, according to a report from Associated Press (Ap).
the @A?? General Assembly has elected 14 members of the #HumanRights Council for the term 2023-2025 ➡️https://t.co/TAZ7ROnFhk
Algeria??
Bangladeshi??
Belgium??
Chile??
Costa Rica??
Georgia??
Germany??
Kyrgyzstan??
Maldives??
Morocco??
Romania??
South Africa??
They sweat??
Viet Nam?? pic.twitter.com/Fwg5ZRx2Gs— UN Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) October 11, 2022
The Chilean candidacy obtained 144 votes, the Costa Rican 134 and the Venezuelan 88. A total of 14 new members of the Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva and is made up of 47 nations, were chosen.
Numerous human rights groups had called in the days leading up to the vote that Venezuela not be chosen due to what they see as a history of repression carried out by the government of Nicolás Maduro.
“The brutal attack against opponents in Venezuela means that the country does not have the credentials to belong to the highest UN rights body,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director of Human Rights Watch, in a statement issued by the organization recently.
A total of 17 countries applied to fill the 14 places on the Council for the period 2023-2025.
The UN General Assembly urges states that vote to elect members to the Council to “take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights.”
Regional media, such as the Argentine newspaper Profilerecall that last Friday, by 19 votes in favor, 5 against and 23 abstentions, the Human Rights Council had extended for two years the mission of three independent experts to follow up on the Venezuelan case “with a view to combating impunity and ensure full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims.”
According to this source, for Latin America and the Caribbean, Paraguay and Brazil approved the resolution, Argentina, Mexico and Honduras abstained, and Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela rejected it. In this regard, the Government of Venezuela “categorically” rejected the Resolution through a release.
“This Resolution is the result of the shameful double standards, the selectivity and the politicized use of the mechanisms of the Human Rights Council by a minority group of States, which obediently follow the dictates of the Government of the United States of America, in its obsessive interest in attacking Venezuelan democratic institutions,” the document reads.
With information from the Associated Press.
