U.S. Mission To The United Nations And Other International Organizations In Geneva
Statement
For Immediate Release
February 25, 2020
Condemning the Former Maduro Regime’s Participation at the UN Human Rights Council
This week, the former Maduro regime took a seat on the UN Human Rights Council in an attempt to assert its legitimacy on the world stage – yet another act of illegitimate usurpation. The United States reiterates our outrage that Maduro’s representatives sit on an international body charged with upholding human rights, while in Venezuela the former regime continues a campaign of systemic repression and targeted violence to maintain its tenuous grip on power. The Council rightly established an Independent Fact Finding Mission to investigate the regime’s actions, which should have disqualified it from serving on the Human Rights Council – but it did not, yet again illustrating one of the reasons the United States withdrew from the Council in 2018.
The United States commends the Lima Group for opposing the illegitimate Maduro regime’s presence on the Human Rights Council as an affront to democracy. We know the Lima Group’s leadership will continue to shine a light on Maduro’s violations and abuses of human rights.
We commend the international community’s calls for free and fair presidential elections in Venezuela in 2020. The United States firmly believes that a swift, negotiated transition to democracy is the most effective and sustainable route to peace and prosperity in Venezuela.
We will continue to speak out whenever we see such systemic injustice and implore all members of the international community – especially those holding seats on the Human Rights Council – to do the same. The people of Venezuela deserve no less. Venezuelans have the right to live in freedom.