• Latest

Venezuela Expels UN Human Rights Agency

February 16, 2024

dfcu Bank evolves ADC into dfcu Foundation to broaden impact and transform rural economies

May 30, 2025
Rising Murder Fears in Ishaka-Bushenyi as Two Bodies Are Discovered in a Day

1-Year-Old Girl Found Murdered, Body Parts Missing

May 30, 2025
VINAStech Advert

Ssemujju on Anti-West Stance: “When They’re Feeding You, They’ll Lecture You”

May 30, 2025
Ssemujju on Anti-West Stance: “When They’re Feeding You, They’ll Lecture You”

ANT Calls for Calm Amid existing Diplomatic Disputes in Uganda

May 29, 2025
Police Search NUP Premises Over Alleged Illegal Military Training

NUP Invites Expressions of Interest from Members Seeking Party Positions

May 29, 2025
UPDF, RDF Strengthen Relations Through Historic Sports Engagements

UPDF, RDF Strengthen Relations Through Historic Sports Engagements

May 29, 2025

Makerere University Student Dies in Iganga Road Accident

May 28, 2025

Literature Giant Ngugi wa Thiongo Dies at 87

May 28, 2025
Parliament Must Lead Uganda’s Clean Energy Shift in FY2025/26 Budget

Why the government needs to champion clean energy technologies awareness

May 28, 2025
Driving climate action for a sustainable future

Oil, Displacement and Despair: The hidden mental health crisis facing marginalised women and girls

May 28, 2025

UPC Urges Reflection and Reform Ahead of Uganda Martyrs Day

May 28, 2025

Chaos Erupts at DP Headquarters Over Forgery on List of Delegates Ahead of Mbarara Conference

May 28, 2025
  • About Us
  • Internship
  • Contact Us
Friday, May 30, 2025
Parrots Media
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • News
    Rising Murder Fears in Ishaka-Bushenyi as Two Bodies Are Discovered in a Day

    1-Year-Old Girl Found Murdered, Body Parts Missing

    Ssemujju on Anti-West Stance: “When They’re Feeding You, They’ll Lecture You”

    Ssemujju on Anti-West Stance: “When They’re Feeding You, They’ll Lecture You”

    ANT Calls for Calm Amid existing Diplomatic Disputes in Uganda

    Police Search NUP Premises Over Alleged Illegal Military Training

    NUP Invites Expressions of Interest from Members Seeking Party Positions

    UPDF, RDF Strengthen Relations Through Historic Sports Engagements

    UPDF, RDF Strengthen Relations Through Historic Sports Engagements

    Parliament Must Lead Uganda’s Clean Energy Shift in FY2025/26 Budget

    Why the government needs to champion clean energy technologies awareness

    Trending Tags

  • Climate Change
  • Business
  • Science and Technology
  • Sports and Entertainment
  • Business
  • Others
    • Education
    • Lifestyle
    • Religion
    • Opinions
  • News
    Rising Murder Fears in Ishaka-Bushenyi as Two Bodies Are Discovered in a Day

    1-Year-Old Girl Found Murdered, Body Parts Missing

    Ssemujju on Anti-West Stance: “When They’re Feeding You, They’ll Lecture You”

    Ssemujju on Anti-West Stance: “When They’re Feeding You, They’ll Lecture You”

    ANT Calls for Calm Amid existing Diplomatic Disputes in Uganda

    Police Search NUP Premises Over Alleged Illegal Military Training

    NUP Invites Expressions of Interest from Members Seeking Party Positions

    UPDF, RDF Strengthen Relations Through Historic Sports Engagements

    UPDF, RDF Strengthen Relations Through Historic Sports Engagements

    Parliament Must Lead Uganda’s Clean Energy Shift in FY2025/26 Budget

    Why the government needs to champion clean energy technologies awareness

    Trending Tags

  • Climate Change
  • Business
  • Science and Technology
  • Sports and Entertainment
  • Business
  • Others
    • Education
    • Lifestyle
    • Religion
    • Opinions
No Result
View All Result
Parrots Media
No Result
View All Result
Home RELIGION

Venezuela Expels UN Human Rights Agency

UN Human Rights Agency Given 72hrs Ultimatum to Exit Venezuela

Gilbert Akampa Kakurugu by Gilbert Akampa Kakurugu
February 16, 2024
in RELIGION
0

H. E Nicholas Maduro, president of Venezuela

0
SHARES
2
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on X

A United Nations agency that monitors and defends human rights was ordered on Thursday to leave Venezuela by the government of President Nicolás Maduro, an extraordinary move that will further strip the country of foreign oversight at a time when its government stands accused of intensifying repression.

The announcement by Yván Gil, the foreign minister, comes just days after the detention and disappearance of Rocío San Miguel, a prominent security expert and human rights advocate.

READ ALSO

UPC Urges Reflection and Reform Ahead of Uganda Martyrs Day

Kasujja Warns Against Secularism as UMU Trains Chaplains to Tackle Youth Crisis

Following her detention, several U.N. entities issued online statements expressing concern about the arrest, some calling it part of a pattern in which the government tries to silence critics through intimidation.

Mr. Gil said he was giving the staff of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 72 hours to “abandon” the country.

Stebo Smart Pro Ad.

In a statement on national television, he accused the U.N. agency of becoming a tool for the “coup-plotters and terrorists” who he said have conspired against Mr. Maduro — and added that the agency had been questioning his government.

“In no state is this tolerable,” he announced.

He provided no evidence to support his claims.

Phil Gunson, a Caracas-based Venezuela expert for International Crisis Group, said the expulsion of the human rights agency, combined with Ms. San Miguel’s arrest, “marks a drastic hardening” by Mr. Maduro’s government of its actions against political opponents and critics.

The move also signals a dramatic turn in Venezuela, where just a few months ago Mr. Maduro was signing an accord with the country’s opposition and agreeing to work toward a free and fair presidential election. Relations with his main political adversary, the United States, were warming, if only slightly.

In the October accord, signed in Barbados, Mr. Maduro said he would hold an election before the end of the year, and the United States in turn lifted some sanctions as a sign of good will. The temporary ease on oil and gas sector sanctions is set to expire in April and the Biden administration can choose to reimpose them.

ADVERTISEMENT
Ninsiima Advert

At the time of the agreement, a democratic transition in Venezuela, while still considered unlikely, appeared a faint possibility.

But just days later, Mr. Maduro watched as an opposition candidate, María Corina Machado, won more than 90 percent of the vote in a primary election, emphasizing her popularity and the prospect that she could beat him in a general election.

Since then, Mr. Maduro’s government has declared Ms. Machado ineligible to run and arrested several members of her campaign. Men on motorbikes have attacked supporters at her events.

A new law that strictly regulates civil society organizations has led to fears that their members will start being treated as criminals. And the arrests of Ms. San Miguel and five members of her family have critics, journalists and human rights workers concerned that they have entered a new era of political control and retribution.

Professional CV writing and Accounting services Ad.

Chavismo, the socialist-inspired movement that Mr. Maduro heads, has controlled the country for 25 years. Mr. Maduro came to power in 2013 after the death of his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, and remained in power following a 2018 presidential election whose results were widely considered fraudulent. That election was followed by a period of international isolation, in which many countries followed the United States in refusing to conduct business with Venezuela.

Ever since, Mr. Maduro has been trying to claw his way back on to the world stage, and international recognition has been the carrot that the United States and other governments have held before him, offering it as reward for democratic concessions.

His decision to expel the U.N. human rights agency is likely to anger many democratic governments, raising the question of whether he cares at all anymore about global recognition.

If he does not, that puts Washington’s strategy in doubt.

“Prospects for even a semi-competitive election appear to have dimmed significantly in the past week,” Mr. Gunson said.

Yoga Advertisement

In response to the expulsion, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office, Ravina Shamdasani, said the agency regretted the move and was evaluating next steps. “Our guiding principle,” she said, “remains the promotion and protection of the human rights of the people of Venezuela.”

The U.N. human rights office, which operates in more than 60 countries, has had a presence in Venezuela since 2019. Its goal is to push the Maduro government to improve its human rights record, through engagement with officials, said Christopher Sabatini, a senior research fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, an international affairs research group in London.

The U.N. office has 13 officers inside the country who monitor conditions, produce reports and run human rights trainings for government employees.

They have also been given access to prisons and detentions centers and have assessed the effect of sanctions on human rights. The organization has called on the Venezuelan government to address hunger and malnutrition, while also pushing for other countries to lift economic sanctions.

MM Bro Code Advertisement

The office has taken a more conciliatory tone than another U.N. body, the U.N. Human Rights Council, which has been investigating human rights violations in the country since 2019.

In 2020, the council implicated Mr. Maduro and other high-ranking officials in systematic human rights abuses amounting to crimes against humanity, including killings, torture and sexual violence, and called for criminal investigations.

Until the expulsion of the human rights office, the United Nations had 18 agencies inside the country. They have a large office complex in east Caracas, the capital, and have been a crucial source of humanitarian assistance in a place where nearly 80 percent of people say that they worry about going without food, according to a 2022 report from the Andrés Bello Catholic University.

Rocio San Miguel, human rights activist who was recently arrested in Venezuela by President Maduro government.

The World Food Program is particularly important, operating under a special agreement with the government and feeding nearly 14,000 schoolchildren a day.

These organizations have always had to walk a delicate line. They must be careful not to become tools of government, which often uses aid programs to manipulate the electorate, while also avoiding the wrath of officials who are sensitive to any reports that make them look bad, according to Mr. Gunson.

U.N. agencies operate only with Mr. Maduro’s permission, which he could revoke at any moment.

Inside the country, the expulsion of the human rights agency along with the detention of Ms. San Miguel and her family, has left critics, activists and human rights workers feeling raw and exposed.

“We are all living a sort of conditional freedom,” said Joel García, a lawyer for political prisoners, including the Ms. San Miguel. “All of us.”

By Julie Turkewitz, The New York Times

Tags: Human Rights AbusesNicholas MaduroRocio San MiguelUN Human Rights AgencyVenezuela

Related Posts

RELIGION

UPC Urges Reflection and Reform Ahead of Uganda Martyrs Day

May 28, 2025
News

Kasujja Warns Against Secularism as UMU Trains Chaplains to Tackle Youth Crisis

May 26, 2025
Uganda Martyrs Essay Competition Expands Across East Africa
RELIGION

Uganda Martyrs Essay Competition Expands Across East Africa

May 23, 2025
Security Bans Vending Outside Namugongo Martyrs Shrine
Business

Security Bans Vending Outside Namugongo Martyrs Shrine

May 16, 2025
Namirembe Diocese Priest Brutally Beaten and Abducted by Unknown Assailants
Religion

Namirembe Diocese Priest Brutally Beaten and Abducted by Unknown Assailants

May 12, 2025
Ugandan MP Francis Mwijukye to meet New Pope in August
RELIGION

Ugandan MP Francis Mwijukye to meet New Pope in August

May 9, 2025
Next Post
USJM grapples with low graduation rates

USJM grapples with low graduation rates

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

POPULAR NEWS

Catholic Priest Speaks Out Against Museveni and Son’s Leadership

Catholic Priest Speaks Out Against Museveni and Son’s Leadership

February 16, 2025

Former IGP Okoth Ogola Dies

February 14, 2025

A Love Beyond Distance: A review of Leonard Kamugisha Akida’s poetic tribute on valentine’s day

February 14, 2025

Besigye Sends Easter Message from Luzira Prison as Archbishop Kazimba Urges for Release of Political Prisoners

April 18, 2025
Brutality at KIU: Students Assaulted by Officials at Examination Hall

KIU Loses Bid to Block Payment of Shillings 46.8 Billion to Housing Finance Bank

March 12, 2025

EDITOR'S PICK

Education is essential to end HIV and AIDS: Without accurate, fresh and detailed data, we are flying blind

November 30, 2021
Makerere investigates lecturer who assaulted student

Makerere, UCU students arrested with drugs

September 6, 2023
50 Countries have declared wearing face masks mandatory despite WHO recommendations

Wearing face masks a prerequisite as lockdown sees a fortnight extension

May 4, 2020
Frerich forwarders director charged.

Frerich forwarders director charged.

May 12, 2021
VINAStech advert VINAStech advert VINAStech advert
ADVERTISEMENT

About

Parrots Media

A Public Relations and Media Services Company registered and licensed to operate in Uganda and the Great Lakes Region.

Follow us

Categories

  • Business
  • BUSINESS REPORTS
  • CLIMATE ACTION REPORTS
  • Climate Change
  • COMMUNITY REPORTS
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • FEATURES
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • News
  • News
  • OBITUARY
  • Obituary
  • Opinions
  • RELIGION
  • Religion
  • Science and Technology
  • Sports
  • Sports and Entertainment
  • TOURISM

Recent Updates

  • dfcu Bank evolves ADC into dfcu Foundation to broaden impact and transform rural economies
  • 1-Year-Old Girl Found Murdered, Body Parts Missing
  • Ssemujju on Anti-West Stance: “When They’re Feeding You, They’ll Lecture You”
  • ANT Calls for Calm Amid existing Diplomatic Disputes in Uganda
May 2025
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Apr    
  • About Us
  • Internship
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Parrots Media | Website Designed and Maintained by VINAStech

No Result
View All Result
  • Parrots Media
  • News
  • Business
  • Science and Technology
  • Sports and Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Others
    • Climate Change
    • Education
    • Religion
    • Opinions

© 2025 Parrots Media | Website Designed and Maintained by VINAStech

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

You cannot copy content of this page