Connect with us

International

Venezuela fails in bid to renew UN rights council seat

Photo: Human Rights Watch

AFP | Agnes Pedrero

China and Russia will lose a trusted ally in the UN Human Rights Council after Venezuela, which stands accused of serious violations, failed Tuesday to renew its seat.

“Great news that UN General Assembly rejected Venezuela’s re-election bid,” Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, tweeted after the vote.

Fourteen seats — nearly a third of the 47-member council — were up for grabs during Tuesday’s vote in New York, although there was only suspense around a small portion of them.

Advertisement
20231223_factura_electronica_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20231001-MH-fact-electronica_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230812_lactancia_materna_01_728x90
20230812_lactancia_materna_02_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
CEL
SSF
SSF
SSF
previous arrow
next arrow

Rights council membership is divided between five regional groups, which typically pre-select the candidate countries for the three-year term ahead of the vote, leaving little room for competition.

There were however competitive races in two regions this year: Asia-Pacific, where there were six candidates for four seats, and Latin America and the Caribbean, where three candidates contested two seats.

In the latter group, Venezuela was running against Chile and Costa Rica.

‘Unfit for membership’

Human Rights Watch and other groups had urged nations not to vote for Venezuela, pointing to findings by UN investigators suggesting President Nicolas Maduro and other members of his government are behind crimes against humanity in the country.

“Venezuela’s vengeful assault on critics of the government makes the country unfit for membership in the UN’s top rights body,” Charbonneau said before the vote, warning that handing Caracas a seat “would undermine the UN’s credibility”.

Advertisement
20231223_factura_electronica_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20231001-MH-fact-electronica_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230812_lactancia_materna_01_728x90
20230812_lactancia_materna_02_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
CEL
SSF
SSF
SSF
previous arrow
next arrow

When the count around the large UN General Assembly hall was done, Venezuela secured only 88 votes, falling short of the required 97-vote majority and far behind the 144 votes taken by Chile and 134 for Costa Rica.

The composition of the council matters, especially as swelling geopolitical tensions increasingly colour the debates and votes in the Geneva-based body.

Tuesday’s vote came on the heels of a historic council session marked by the first-ever attempts to push through resolutions targeting China and the situation inside Russia.

The council accepted the resolution brought by most EU countries calling for a special rapporteur to monitor the rights situation in Russia, amid concerns of domestic crackdown as Moscow’s war rages in neighbouring Ukraine.

But it narrowly rejected a more tepid text put forward by the United States merely asking for a debate on violations in Xinjiang.

Advertisement
20231223_factura_electronica_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20231001-MH-fact-electronica_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230812_lactancia_materna_01_728x90
20230812_lactancia_materna_02_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
CEL
SSF
SSF
SSF
previous arrow
next arrow

The proposal came after a UN report cited possible crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-western Chinese region.

‘Consistent ally’

While this was a heavy defeat for Western nations, and appeared to signal a shifting power balance in the council, observers suggest a few changes in the body’s membership could allow the next resolution targeting China to pass.

New council members with a “more robust and principled approach” to human rights crises could “greatly increase” the chances of a future initiative on China succeeding, said Raphael Viana David of the International Service for Human Rights.

Venezuela was staunchly in the ‘no’ camp on both those votes, and is among the nations that repeatedly slam attempts to call out abuses by specific countries at the council as a “politicisation” of human rights.

“Venezuela has been a consistent ally of both China and Russia at the council,” ISHR’s Tess McEvoy told AFP.

Advertisement
20231223_factura_electronica_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
20231001-MH-fact-electronica_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230812_lactancia_materna_01_728x90
20230812_lactancia_materna_02_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
CEL
SSF
SSF
SSF
previous arrow
next arrow

Continue Reading
Advertisement
20231223_factura_electronica_300x250
RP_migracion_NV_832x731
20231124_etesal_300x250_1
20231001-MH-fact-electronica_300x250
20230912_isss_ssf_300x250_01
20230912_isss_ssf_300x250_02
20230816_dgs_300x250
20230812_lactancia_materna_01_300x150
20230812_lactancia_materna_02_300x150
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_300X250
MARN1

International

Venezuela claims that the US seeks to ignore and delegitimize the presidential elections

The Government of Venezuela affirmed that the United States is trying to ignore and delegitimize the presidential elections of next July 28, after the Joe Biden Administration asked for the participation of all anti-Chavist candidates who wish to do so.

“Venezuela categorically rejects the statement of March 27, 2024 of the United States Government in which, finally, the heads of the operation against Venezuela show their face, as owners of a circus that tries to ignore and delegitimize the next presidential elections,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement published in X.

He argued that the United States intends to minimize the participation of 37 “political forces” at the national level, “which, covering the broad ideological spectrum that exists in the country, registered 13 presidential candidacies, including 12 that identify themselves as opposition.”

The Venezuelan Executive stated that it has fully complied with the legal regulations and with “every point” of the Barbados Agreement to hold the presidential elections.

“In the face of this new claim of the State Department, to take the path of extremism against Venezuelan democracy, Bolivarian dignity will make them fail again and again,” he said.

On Wednesday, the United States insisted on the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, to allow the participation in the July 28 elections of all opposition candidates who wish to do so.

The Biden Administration thus reiterated its position on the disqualification of the main opposition candidate, María Corina Machado, and the impossibility of her formation, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), to register the academic Corina Yoris as a replacement.

“The acceptance by the CNE of only those opposition candidates with whom Maduro and his representatives feel comfortable goes against competitive and inclusive elections,” warned the spokesman of the State Department, Matthew Miller.

Faced with the difficulties of the opposition platform to nominate a candidate, the Governments of Brazil and Colombia, allies of the Venezuelan, expressed their concern about what happened on Tuesday.

The PUD reported on the same Tuesday that it managed to register, provisionally, Edmundo González Urrutia, who may be replaced from next April 1, as long as he does not have any administrative sanction or impediment.

Continue Reading

International

Palestinian Prime Minister chosen by hand by Abbas presents new government with 22 ministers

The Palestinian Prime Minister, economist Mohamad Mustafa, presented on Thursday to President Mahmud Abbas the composition of a new government with 22 ministers, including at least three women, and in which he himself will head the Foreign Affairs portfolio.

“The Prime Minister-designate, Muhamad Mustafa, presented the work program and the composition of the government to President Mahmud Abbas,” the official Wafa news agency reported today, “consequently, the president issued a decree law giving confidence to the nineteenth government and issued a decree approving its formation.”

The new cabinet will take an oath this Sunday, March 31, and in its program one of the priorities is the Gaza Strip, including a plan to increase access to humanitarian aid and the reconstruction of the enclave, as well as create a stable Palestinian Authority, since it has been dejured by the majority of Palestinians for years.

Mustafa will hold the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing Riyad Al Malki; while Zyad Mahmoud Mohamed will serve as Minister of the Interior and Omar Akram Al Bitar, former Middle East executive of one of the world’s major consulting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers, will be Minister of Finance.

Sharhabel Yusef Sad Edin will serve as Minister of Justice and Majid Awni Mohamed Abu Ramadan in Health, according to the official list. Among the ministers Mona Muhamad Mahmoud al Jalili will lead the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Ahed Faeq Atef Bseiso, will be in charge of Public Works and Housing. Samah Abdel Rahim Hussein Hamad will be Minister of Social Development.

On March 14, President Abás appointed Mustafa as prime minister of the ANP, which controls the occupied territory of the West Bank in a fragmented way, and commissioned him to form a new government after the resignation two weeks before the entire cabinet along with the then prime minister, Mohamed Shtayeh.

Shatyeh’s resignation was understood as part of Abas’ efforts to reform the ANP with a technocratic government that can take control of the Gaza Strip when the war ends in the Palestinian enclave, something that is in the US future plans but not in those of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The ANP ruled in the Gaza Strip until 2007, when Hamas forcibly took power from the enclave after failing the attempts of a government of national unity with Fatah, after the Islamist group won in the 2006 legislative elections.

Although weakened and without any influence in Gaza – in December 2023 60% of Palestinians supported the dissolution of the ANP and 92% the resignation of Abas, according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research – the ANP is the only entity accepted by Israel and a large part of the international community as an interlocutor of the Palestinians.

Continue Reading

International

Changing the time has an impact on the economy and your health: this entity asks to end the measure in the EU

The non-profit organization Time Use Initiative (TUI), which promotes the right to time around the world, demands an end to the time change in Europe in the electoral programs that will be presented for the next elections in the European Parliament (June 9).

The entity, according to a statement issued on Monday, defends the end of this measure because changing the clocks to an incorrect time zone “negatively affects individual and collective health, as well as the economy.”

During the last 30 years, he adds, “it has been shown that living in the wrong time zones has a negative impact on energy savings, on the risk of cancer and other diseases, on the performance of workers and students, or on GDP, among other issues.”

Specifically, according to TUI, 20% of European citizens and 34% of women with children “suffer from time poverty,” which means “affects both individual well-being and social cohesion.”

The roadmap set out in the EU Manifesto focuses especially on sectors that may experience a greater impact, such as emergency and transport services, and includes a public awareness campaign.

The platform’s request, whose main objective is to encourage public debate on how to collectively organize time to improve the well-being of citizens, coincides with the time change on European clocks on March 31.

According to the entity’s statement, ending the seasonal time change for 2026 is one of the 12 measures included in the EU Manifesto on time policies promoted by TUI to guarantee the right to time in Europe.

According to TUI, the fact that no changes have been implemented in this aspect responds to “beliefs and myths about the need to maintain daylight saving time that persist between public opinion and political debate.”

Three examples:

One of those myths, in the opinion of this entity, is that daylight saving time saves energy.

The platform responds that this “could be spending more energy, given the current consumption patterns, which increase the expenditure on cooling and heating.”

Another myth that TUI points out is that the end of the time change could harm the economy, especially certain sectors such as tourism, leisure or retail trade.

With regard to this argument, experts mention issues such as that the current configuration already causes lack of sleep and, therefore, less productivity and work accidents, or that it is not daylight saving time, but summer and good weather that drive tourism and leisure.

And a third myth: the belief that ending time changes means changing daily habits.

TUI mentions the argument of the International Alliance for Natural Time (IANT), which assures that, since habits are already constant throughout the year in terms of time, they can remain the same.

Continue Reading

Trending

Central News