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Venezuela: Rights probe points to unprecedented repression of critics
Violence used against opponents of the Venezuelan authorities has reached unprecedented levels, a top independent human rights probe alleged on Tuesday, citing arrests, sexual abuse and torture as just some of the methods used by the Government of President Nicolas Maduro to stay in power.
In a new report, the Human Rights Council-mandated investigators described how security forces had raided dozens of homes of suspected critics of the Government “just using social media videos as the only evidence to arrest people”.
Victims’ testimonies gathered either side of the disputed Presidential election on 28 July which returned Mr. Maduro to office for the third time pointed to “one of the most acute human rights crises in recent history”, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela further maintained.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Marta Valiñas, Chair of the investigation, insisted that that its latest findings were “overwhelming: not only have there been no improvements, but the violations have intensified, reaching unprecedented levels of violence”.
The independent rights expert described “an intensification of the State’s repressive machinery” with regard to its critics which represented “a continuation of previous patterns” that the independent rights panel had already condemned as likely crimes against humanity.
Following the re-election of Mr. Maduro – whose victory announcement prompted widespread protests across Venezuela - Ms. Valiñas said that the probe had confirmed 25 fatalities. Most of the victims were “young people under 30 years old from popular neighbourhoods. There are two children among them,” she said.
One of the deceased was a member of the Bolivarian National Guard, Ms. Valiñas noted, before adding that 24 “died from gunshot wounds [and] the other was beaten to death”.
The Fact-Finding Mission’s latest report examines the human rights situation in Venezuela between September 2023 and August 2024. It points to a further deterioration of the rule of law following the Presidential elections, while public authorities “have abandoned all semblance of independence”, leaving citizens “helpless” against the “arbitrary exercise” of power.
“We documented more than 40 cases in which the security forces entered private homes without warrants, just using social media videos as the only evidence to arrest people who they thought had participated in protests or who had expressed criticism in social media,” explained Francisco Cox Vial, Member of the fact-finding mission that was created by the Human Rights Council in 2019.
According to the independent investigators, more than 120 people were arrested in July in the context of opposition campaign events. In the first week of protests following the elections, based on figures released by the authorities, more than 2,000 people were detained. Individuals included more than 100 children, some with disabilities, who faced accusations of terrorism and incitement to hatred and serious violations of due process, the investigators added.
“Of the people detained in this period, many were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as sexual violence which was perpetrated against women and girls, but also against men with reported electric shocks, beating with blunt objects, suffocation with plastic bags, immersion in cold water and forced sleep deprivation,” said Patricia Tappatá Valdez, member of the fact-finding mission.
“We had been able to verify that at least 143 of these arrests involved members of seven opposition parties, including 66 leaders of political movements,” she added.
According to the rights probe, from December 2023 to March 2024, at least 48 people were detained on the grounds of “so-called conspiracy theories” against the Government, with arrest warrants issued for others. The individuals included military personnel, human rights defenders, journalists and political opposition representatives, the fact-finding mission said.
“We cannot ignore that these violations represent a clear and deliberate line of conduct by the authorities of politically motivated persecution,” said investigator Mr. Cox Vial. “We have come to the conclusion that many of these allegations constitute crimes against humanity.”
Story: Venezuela human rights probe
TRT: 02’21”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 17 September 2024 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
Speakers:
• Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission
• Francisco Cox Vial, Member of the Fact-Finding Mission
• Patricia Tappatá Valdez, Member of the Fact-Finding Mission
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot of the podium and Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission: “Our findings are overwhelming: not only have there been no improvements, but the violations have intensified, reaching unprecedented levels of violence.”
- Medium-wide, podium speakers and Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission: “In the post-election context, we have documented 25 confirmed deaths, most of them young people under 30 years old from popular neighbourhoods. There are two children among them. One of the victims is a member of the Bolivarian National Guard. Of these 25 victims, we have confirmed that 24 died from gunshot wounds. The other was beaten to death.”
- Medium-wide, podium speakers and Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Francisco Cox Vial, Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “We documented more than 40 cases in which the security forces entered private homes without warrants, just using social media videos as the only evidence to arrest people who they thought had participated in protests or who had expressed criticism in social media.”
- Wide, Press room, photographer.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Patricia Tappatá Valdez, Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “Of the people detained in this period, many were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as sexual violence which was perpetrated against women and girls, but also against men with reported electric shocks, beating with blunt objects, suffocation with plastic bags, immersion in cold water and forced sleep deprivation.”
- Medium, video journalist operating TV camera.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Patricia Tappatá Valdez, Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “We had been able to verify that at least 143 of these arrests involved members of seven opposition parties, including 66 leaders of political movements.”
- Medium, journalists/participants.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Francisco Cox Vial, Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “We cannot ignore that these violations represent a clear and deliberate line of conduct by the authorities of politically motivated persecution. We have come to the conclusion that many of these allegations constitute crimes against humanity.”
- Medium-close, journalist.
- Medium-close, journalist.
- Medium-close, journalist.
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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
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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.
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“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.
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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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