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Venezuela: Human Rights Council-appointed fact-finding report urges accountability for crimes against humanity
Rights violations against anti-Government protesters in Venezuela “amounted to crimes against humanity”, UN-appointed rights investigators have said in their first report.
Announcing their findings on Wednesday, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela cited evidence of unlawful executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture since 2014.
Senior military and ministerial figures were likely aware of the crimes, said the investigators, who were appointed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, in September last year.
“They gave orders, coordinated activities and supplied resources in furtherance of the plans and policies under which the crimes were committed,” the report stated.
Marta Valiñas, chairperson of the FFM, highlighted the extent of atrocities committed in Venezuela since 2014 until today. “The UN Human Right Council in September of last year, investigated and documented extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture and other inhumane or degrading treatment, including sexual and gender-based violence.”
President Nicolas Maduro also likely “side-tracked the chain of command” to ensure the commission of crimes, involving the head of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), the report’s authors maintained.
“We have involvement and contribution to the crime by Mr Maduro, either directly through the chain of command and sometimes circumventing the chain of command and giving the direct order,” said investigator Francisco Cox.
Paul Seils, the third member of the FFM added that the Mission had “reasonable grounds to believe that even in specific operation planning, high-level officials, including senior military and ministerial levels, were also involved”.
The investigators added that they had reasonable grounds to believe that “many of those detained in the context of those protests was subject to torture, cruel and inhuman degrading treatment.”
Ms. Valiñas explained that close to 2,500 incidents involving close to 4,600 deaths were linked to security forces. “This provides the context to what are the violations that we document in the report and that we consider are extrajudicial executions.”
Mr. Seils added that few individuals had been prosecuted in Venezuela for crimes covered in the report.
“There is as far as we can see no record of any serious investigation into those with a higher level of responsibility in terms of organising crime and instigating these kinds of crimes that have been committed”, he said, adding that “the International Criminal Court has already indicated that it’s examining that position and I think one can assume it stands ready to make a decision”.
The panel’s work, which was carried out without the cooperation of the Venezuelan Government, despite official requests, is contained in a 411-page report covering more than 220 cases.
Thousands more files were also reviewed which identified “patterns of violations …that were highly coordinated” by the authorities.
These included crime-fighting operations by the State, “politically motivated detention and torture” by State intelligence agencies, and the “increasingly violent response” to mass opposition protests including last year.
Alleged violations included the killing of 36 protesters, as well as torture in detention, including beatings and humiliation, sexual and gender-based violence and mock executions.
State authorities had also failed to intervene in several cases where protesters were killed by armed civilian groups known as “colectivos”, the report’s authors noted, amid an increased State “reliance on military-civilian coordination to maintain public order in recent years”.
The Mission’s report is due to be presented to the Human Rights Council on Wednesday 23 September.
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a beautiful day.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Marta Valiñas, chairperson of the FFM (Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela): “Over the past months, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in accordance with the mandate it was given by the UN Human Rights Council in September of last year, investigated and documented extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, including sexual and gender-based violence, committed in Venezuela since 2014 to the present.”
- Medium shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a beautiful day.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Francisco Cox Vial, member of the FFM (Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela): “We have involvement and contribution to the crime by Mr Maduro, either directly through the chain of command and sometimes circumventing the chain of command and giving the direct order. But as we said, what we have reasonable grounds to believe is that this is a State policy, it’s not just a random acts of officials in SEBIN, but it is a political decision to target political opposition to quash this opposition.”
- Exterior medium shot, scooter passing in front of Palais des Nations entrance, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Paul Seils, member of the FFM (Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela): “The mission has reasonable grounds to believe that even in specific operational planning, high-level officials, including senior military and ministerial levels, were also involved. The Mission has looked in close detail at almost 100 cases of protests, and it has reasonable grounds to believe that many of those detained in the context of those protests was subjected to torture, cruel, inhumane, degrading treatment.”
- Exterior wide shot, Place des Nations and Palais des Nation main entrance.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Marta Valiñas, Chairperson of the FFM (Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela): “Our team has reviewed close to 2,500 incidents involving close to 4,600 deaths committed by the security forces. This provides the context to what are the violations that we document in the report and that we consider are extrajudicial executions.”
- Exterior medium shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Paul Seils, member of the FFM (Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela): “If the Venezuelan authorities are not willing, fail to do anything or do anything genuinely, then of course the International Criminal Court has already indicated that it’s examining that position and I think one can assume it stands ready to make a decision.”
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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