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Bogotá, April 24, 2023 

Dear President of the Republic of Colombia Gustavo Petro

Re: Bogotá Summit

Please receive warm greetings from the undersigned international human rights organizations, who have accompanied civil society and victims and survivors of human rights violations in Venezuela and advocated for the respect and protection of human rights in this country in the face of the current crisis.

Our organizations welcome your call for the so-called “Bogotá Summit” in the hope that it will be a fruitful space to address issues that afflict the people of Venezuela. In this sense, we consider it essential that this space takes into consideration aspects related to the guarantee and protection of human rights and justice for cases of human rights violations that have even been identified as possible crimes against humanity.(1)

We also welcome the public efforts of your government, so that Venezuela returns and regularizes its situation before the Inter-American Human Rights System, which includes compliance in good faith with all obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights, with respect to the reports of the Commission and the judgments of the Inter-American Court, some in non-compliance since 2004. Your Excellency knows first hand the positive impact that the international human rights protection systems have had in favor of victims in Colombia; and especially the effect of the Inter-American System.

In view of the Bogotá Summit, we, the undersigned organizations, would like to present the following considerations:

1. It is essential that the conversations that may take place in Bogotá to seek solutions to the various crises in Venezuela, have a focus on compliance with the many recommendations issued by various international organizations to improve the situation of guarantee and protection of these rights. These recommendations(2) among others, should be a primary scale to measure the improvements that Venezuelan authorities may implement in the future, and any conversation on governance in Venezuela should go hand in hand with these recommendations.

2. We consider it fundamental that the Bogotá talks seek to ensure that Venezuela takes the path towards the reestablishment of the rule of law as an essential element to overcome the human rights crisis it has been experiencing for years. In this regard, it is particularly important to restore judicial independence, both formally and materially, as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has indicated in numerous rulings.

3. A constant among the recommendations issued by international human rights organizations is the fundamental and non-negotiable nature of the fight against impunity in Venezuela. The United Nations International Independent Fact-Finding Mission has delved into the responsibility of the Venezuelan justice organs in the commission of possible crimes against humanity,(3) and in the absence of independent, impartial and exhaustive investigations into human rights violations in this country.(4) The impunity existing in Venezuela in the face of these atrocities has led to an investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (5) with which the States are called upon to cooperate.

For the organizations, it is necessary to highlight and emphasize that the talks in Bogotá must honor the justice initiatives and international commitments and even encourage the parties to commit to promote these mechanisms so that the victims and Venezuelan society can have access to truth, justice, reparation and guarantee of the non-repetition of these events.

4. It is essential that the release of persons detained for political reasons in Venezuela be achieved. At present there are an estimated 300 people arbitrarily detained and whose criminal proceedings are politically motivated.(6) The release of these people in accordance with international law should be considered an act of good faith and indispensable in any discussion on the future of Venezuela and should also be considered as an urgent measure to deactivate the mechanisms of persecution that prevent the full exercise of the rights of freedom of opinion, expression, assembly and peaceful assembly, among other political rights essential for the democratization of the Venezuelan context.

5. We consider it vitally important to begin dismantling repression and deterrent mechanisms or mechanisms that hinder the exercise of human rights. In recent years in Venezuela, people with differences of opinion to the authorities, or who are perceived as such, have not been the only ones attacked and criminalized by the government. Those who defend human rights or provide humanitarian assistance in the midst of the complex humanitarian emergency, which forces thousands of people flee the country on a daily basis, are also victims of persecution. An example of this is the arbitrary detention of Javier Tarazona since July 2, 2021, human rights defender, prisoner of conscience and director of FUNDAREDES.(7)

Several legislative initiatives to impose new controls on the activities of civil society(8) have raised alarms among national and international actors,(9) due to the high risk and legal precariousness in which civil society organizations would be left, which could be easily outlawed and criminalized due to the wide discretionary margin -in the hands of an administrative authority- and the exorbitant requirements included in the projects currently pending in the National Assembly.

These legislative proposals that limit the defense of human rights should be discarded in the framework of the talks that your country is promoting and as a guarantee for the exercise of freedom of association and other human rights.

While we understand the complexities of establishing a common political agenda in Venezuela, we ask that the recommendations of international human rights organizations be necessarily incorporated into the discussion in Bogotá. In particular, we consider that the non-negotiable nature of the initiatives for justice, truth and reparation for the victims of human rights violations in the country; the release of arbitrarily detained persons and the end of threats to civic space and the defense of human rights, should be central elements, separate from any idea of ideological dilemmas, and should be forged as the backbone of the talks in any other space for dialogue to overcome the crisis in Venezuela.

We remain at your attention if it is necessary to deepen in some aspect of this communication in the mail: s.america2@amnesty.org

Kind regards,

Amnistía Internacional 

Comisión Internacional de Juristas 

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) 

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) 

Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) 

Download the full letter here.

This text has been translated from Spanish to English by WOLA.

***

1 Consejo de Derechos Humanos, Informe de la misión internacional independiente de determinación de los hechos sobre la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, A/HRC/45/33, 25 de septiembre de 2020, documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G20/238/94/PDF/G2023894.pdf?OpenElement para. 161. 2 Oficina del Alto Comisionado para los Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas, las de la Misión Internacional e Independiente de Determinación de los Hechos de las Naciones Unidas, el Examen Periódico Universal, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, entre otros.

Oficina del Alto Comisionado para los Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas, las de la Misión Internacional e Independiente de Determinación de los Hechos de las Naciones Unidas, el Examen Periódico Universal, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, entre otros.

3 Consejo de Derechos Humanos, Informe de la misión internacional independiente de determinación de los hechos sobre la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, A/HRC/48/69, 28 de diciembre de 2021, documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G21/396/44/PDF/G2139644.pdf?OpenElement, paras. 110-120.

4 Consejo de Derechos Humanos, Conclusiones detalladas de la Misión internacional independiente de determinación de los hechos sobre la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, A/HRC/45/CRP.11, 15 de septiembre de 2020, http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFMV/A_HRC_45_CRP.11_SP.pdf, p. 438 y ss. Consejo de Derechos Humanos, Conclusiones detalladas de la Misión internacional independiente de determinación de los hechos sobre la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, A/HRC/48/CRP, 16 de septiembre de 2021, www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFMV/A-HRC-48-CRP.5_SP.pdf, para. 489 y ss. Consejo de Derechos Humanos, Conclusiones detalladas de la Misión Internacional Independiente de Determinación de los Hechos sobre la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, A/HCR/51/CRP.3, 20 de septiembre de 2022, www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/ffmv/2022-09-20/A_HRC_51_43_Unofficial_Spanish_Version.docx, paras. 461 y ss.    

5 Corte Penal Internacional, Declaración del Fiscal de la Corte Penal Internacional, Karim A. A. Khan KC, tras su petición de una orden de autorización, en virtud del párrafo 2 del artículo 18, para la reanudación de las investigaciones en la Situación en Venezuela I, 1 de noviembre de 2022, www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-prosecutor-international-criminal-court-karim-khan-kc-following-application-order

6 Amnistía Internacional, Informe Anual 2022/23, la situación de los derechos humanos en el mundo, capítulo Venezuela, www.amnesty.org/en/location/americas/south-america/venezuela/report-venezuela/ p. 470.

7 Amnistía Internacional, Acción Urgente, Venezuela: Más información: Liberen a preso de conciencia venezolano, AMR 53/5121/2021, 20 de diciembre de 2021, www.amnesty.org/es/documents/amr53/5121/2021/es/

8 Amnistía Internacional, Acción Urgente, Venezuela: ONGs en riesgo en Venezuela, AMR 53/6379/2023, 25 de enero de 2023, www.amnesty.org/es/documents/amr53/6379/2023/es/. WOLA y otros, 93 organizaciones venezolanas y regionales firman una carta abierta al presidente Gustavo Petro, 16 de febrero de 2023, www.wola.org/es/2023/02/93-organizaciones-venezonlanas-carta-al-presidente-petro/

9 Misión Internacional e Independiente de Determinación de los Hechos sobre Venezuela, Actualización Oral, Venezuela: Expertos de la ONU alertan sobre constantes ataques a la sociedad civil, medios de comunicación y sindicatos, 22 de marzo de 2023, www.ohchr.org/es/press-releases/2023/03/venezuela-un-experts-warn-persisting-attacks-civil-society-media-and-trade. Misión Internacional e Independiente de Determinación de los Hechos sobre Venezuela, Venezuela: El proyecto de ley sobre las ONG, un posible punto de no retorno en el cierre del espacio cívico, 30 de enero de 2023, www.ohchr.org/es/press-releases/2023/01/venezuela-draft-ngo-law-reaching-point-no-return-closure-civic-space