Tough diplomatic setback for Nicolás Maduro’s government. Venezuela on Tuesday lost its candidacy to continue to fill a position on the United Nations Organization (OUU) Human Rights Council.
The vote took place at the General Assembly, which was held at the headquarters in New York. Chile and Costa Rica were elected, beating Venezuela, which was fighting with these other two countries for two vacant seats for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The result was eloquent. Chile received 144 votes, Costa Rica 134 and Venezuela 88. A total of 14 new members were elected to a Geneva-based body whose mandate runs from 2023 to 2025.
Venezuela is currently part of this council and is seeking re-election for a second term, which is the maximum. Human rights groups, however, ran an extensive campaign to denounce the Caracas government for repressing the Maduro executive.
Louis Charbonneau, UN director of Huma Right Watch (HRW), celebrated closing the door on Venezuela. Charbonneau argued there was evidence that Maduro and other senior members of his team could be responsible for crimes against humanity. A government facing such allegations should not sit on the UN’s highest judicial body,” Charbonneau said after the vote.
The Human Rights Council, made up of 47 countries elected for three-year terms, has often been criticized since its inception for accommodating states with very dubious records. Charbonneau had previously warned that “Venezuela’s vindictive attack on government critics renders the country unfit for membership of the UN’s main human rights body.”
HRW also stressed that electing Venezuela would mean “striking the millions of Venezuelans who suffer human rights abuses and the millions more who are forced to flee this failed state.”
Last month, the independent international UN mission to Venezuela accused that country’s civilian and military intelligence agencies (Sebin and the Dgcim) of committing crimes against humanity to quell political dissent, through a high-level dictated streak of ill-treatment .
The UN General Assembly urges states voting to elect members of the Council to “consider the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights”.
Venezuela’s exit will mean China and Russia lose a key ally in that United Nations body, which in recent months has been more divided than at any time since its inception in 2006. The composition of this council is relevant, especially at an acute one Context geopolitical tensions being debated in Geneva.
Chile’s President Gabriel Boric celebrated his country’s entry into the organization. “We have received very good news that as a country we have won the first majority in the region in the vote to integrate the Human Rights Council,” he said. Costa Rica also applauded his success. Both will join other Latin American countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico or Paraguay in this council.