The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Alena Douhan, arrived in the capital city on Tuesday and met with a delegation of deputies from the opposition caucus of the recently sworn-in Venezuelan parliament.
The meeting was held in the east of the capital city and was attended by parliamentarians Luis Eduardo Martínez, Bernabé Gutiérrez, Luis Augusto Romero, Luis Parra, Timoteo Zambrano and José Gregorio Correa.
"There will be no statements," said the parliamentarians. "The statements will be made by the commissioner. She will be in charge. The expectations are good, they are always good," said Correa, a member of the so-called Democratic Alliance, after the meeting.
The rapporteur will remain in the country until February 12 and will also hold meetings with senior government officials, members of the judiciary, international organizations, the diplomatic community, civil society, political parties, the national human rights mechanism, lawyers. , academics, activists, victims and their families.
Upon his arrival in Venezuela on January 30, Douhan expressed his desire to examine, "in a spirit of cooperation and dialogue," the scope of the unilateral sanctions of the United States against the country and "the full realization of human rights (DD.HH.) of the people."
Measuring the impact of sanctions: one of the objectives
One of the main objectives of the visit of the rapporteur Alena Douhan is to measure the impact of coercive measures, known as economic sanctions, on the Venezuelan population, in their daily lives and the impact on human rights.
"I will focus in particular on any negative impact that sanctions may have on the enjoyment of all human rights in Venezuela," Douhan said, adding that she will also make recommendations to mitigate or eliminate the negative effects. of unilateral coercive measures.
The rapporteur was received by the vice minister for multilateral issues, Daniela Rodríguez, and the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN and other international organizations based in Geneva, Héctor Constant.
Douhan's credentials
Alena Douhan was appointed Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights by the UN Human Rights Council, in March 2020.
The rapporteur is a specialist in international law and human rights and a professor of international law at the Belarusian State University. In addition, she has served as the director of the Center for Peace Research in Minsk.
According to the UN, Dohuan, who took office as rapporteur on March 25, 2020, is an independent expert who does not receive a salary for her work but provides her services on a voluntary basis and in a personal capacity.
