The President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, announced the opening of an office in Venezuela for technical assistance and inter-institutional cooperation of the International Criminal Court, where the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will also participate.
The first National President received in Miraflores Karim Khan, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), where they refined points developed in the memorandum of understanding that promotes dialogue and human rights, which was signed between the Venezuelan State and the ICC last month of November 2021.
Khan arrived in our country last Tuesday and held two important work meetings with “interactive dialogue” and in an atmosphere of cooperation, Maduro reported.
He recalled that the elements of the processes of institutional complementarity between the Venezuelan State and the ICC Prosecutor’s Office are found in the memorandum of understanding, where he highlights the commitment to establish a joint technical assistance office to facilitate “an effective dialogue in real time, more efficient”.
“That is what has been happening, complementarity, dialogue and cooperation in this new stage from November to the present day,” said President Maduro.
“I welcome the fact that the ICC, with its capacity and background, comes with an office so that Venezuela advances even further in the exercise of its rights. You have the doors of Venezuela open », he said referring to prosecutor Khan.
«We are the first interested in the enjoyment of human, social and political rights by our people. We are the first interested in seeing justice done », he expressed.
On the other hand, Maduro also stressed that a process of profound reform of the Judiciary is being carried out in the country, “based on a great social, institutional and political dialogue.”
The president stressed that Venezuela “has been a pioneer in the drafting of a Constitution with a chapter on Human Rights that is one of the most advanced in the world, as well as in the application of justice based on what is established in our legal order,” he said.
For his part, prosecutor Karim Khan stressed that he has maintained a frank and fruitful exchange with President Maduro and thanked the Venezuelan government for the invitation.
Regarding the opening of an office in Venezuela, prosecutor Khan described it as an important and significant step that will allow the organization to fulfill its responsibilities, as well as work with other international organizations in the country.
In this sense, the members of his team will have a multiple-entry visa to be able to easily access Venezuelan territory, and a series of work meetings were also agreed between the Bolivarian Government and members of that body of justice.
On November 3, 2021, the Venezuelan and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court signed a memorandum of understanding, based on the principle of positive complementarity established in the Rome Statute.
The signing of the document followed the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office to conclude the preliminary examination of the Venezuela I case, initiated in 2018 around alleged human rights violations in the context of the violent demonstrations of 2017, and proceed to open a formal investigation to establish the truth.
As agreed, and despite differences of opinion on this issue, the parties ratified their commitment to actively collaborate with each other and establish mechanisms to improve cooperation and facilitate the effective performance of the ICC’s mandate in Venezuelan territory.
