[News] Truth Suffers in Human Rights Watch Report on Venezuela

Fri Sep 19 18:55:04 EDT 2008

The Truth Suffers in Human Rights Watch Report on Venezuela

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3812

September 19th 2008, by Venezuela Information Office

On September 18, 2008 Human Rights Watch released 
a report entitled "Venezuela: Rights Suffer Under 
Chávez." The report contains biases and 
inaccuracies, and wrongly purports that human 
rights guarantees are lacking or not properly 
enforced in Venezuela. In addition, while 
criticizing Venezuela's human rights in the 
political context, it fails to mention the many 
significant advancements made by the government 
on other essential human rights, such as access 
to education, healthcare, nutritious food, clean water, and housing.

MYTH: "Discrimination on political grounds has 
been a defining feature of the Chávez presidency."

FACT: Human Rights Watch deems the 2002 coup 
against the elected government "the most dramatic 
setback" for human rights in Venezuela in the 
last decade, but criticizes President Chavez's 
own public condemnations of the unconstitutional 
overthrow as examples of "political 
discrimination" against the opposition. On the 
contrary, President Chávez last year pardoned 
political opponents who backed a failed 2002 coup 
against his democratically elected government. 
"It's a matter of turning the page," Chávez said. 
"We want there to be a strong ideological and 
political debate -- but in peace."[i] In this 
spirit, the government has often welcomed input 
from the opposition, for example, inviting the 
leaders of student protests to address the National Assembly.

MYTH: The Chávez administration has an "open 
disregard for the principle of separation of 
powers - specifically an independent judiciary."

FACT: Human Rights Watch wrote in an earlier 
report that "When President Chávez became 
president in 1999, he inherited a judiciary that 
had been plagued for years by influence-peddling, 
political interference, and, above all, 
corruption...In terms of public credibility, the 
system was bankrupt." Under Chávez though, Human 
Rights Watch admitted that access to justice in 
Venezuela was improved by the expansion of the 
court system.[ii] Also, the World Bank found that 
"the [judicial] reform effort has made 
significant progress - the STJ [Supreme Court] is 
more modern and efficient."[iii] Testament to the 
strength of democratic institutions in Venezuela 
is the ability of the National Electoral Council 
to uphold decisions unfavorable to lawmakers, 
such as the "no" victory in the December 2007 
referendum on constitutional reforms.

MYTH: "[Chávez] has significantly shifted the 
balance of the mass media in the government's 
favor... by stacking the deck against critical opposition outlets."

FACT: As was true at the time of the 2002 coup 
against Chávez, Venezuela's media is dominated by 
opposition voices. The "anti-government" media 
mentioned by Human Rights Watch still maintains 
the largest share of the nation's public 
airwaves, and their frequently extreme criticisms 
of the government have included calling for the 
overthrow of elected leaders (as in 2002). There 
are no major pro-government newspapers in 
Venezuela. The new government-funded television 
and radio outlets, such as TVes - Venezuela's 
first public broadcaster - and TeleSur - a 
regional network with support from multiple 
countries - have a much smaller reach than the 
private outlets. Furthermore, the government has 
never censored or "shut down" opposition media. 
The private channel RCTV faced a non-renewal of 
its broadcast license due to persistent legal 
violations including inciting political violence, 
but the station easily made the switch to cable.

MYTH: The Chávez government "has sought to remake 
the country's labor movement in ways that violate 
basic principles of freedom of association."

FACT: The Chavez government has actively promoted 
the formation of labor unions and bargaining by 
organized labor, but has not co-opted this 
sector. The National Workers' Union (UNT) was 
founded in April 2003 by workers supportive of 
government policies. In 2008, the government 
responded to an ongoing labor dispute between 
steel workers and the foreign-owned firm Sidor by 
intervening to negotiate a settlement, and when 
this was found to be impossible, the government 
reasserted state control over the Sidor plant in 
response to worker demands. The steel workers 
themselves were also allowed to purchase a share 
of the business themselves and thereby assert more control over the company.

MYTH: The Chávez government has pursued an 
"aggressively adversarial approach to local 
rights advocates and civil society organizations."

FACT: The Chávez administration has encouraged 
local leaders to create community councils that 
let localities identify and address their own 
problems - from garbage collection to school 
construction. The concept comes from the belief 
that local groups know what is lacking and know 
what they want for their communities. Community 
councils democratize local government and give 
people the funding and capacity to make decisions 
for themselves. Also subject to local 
decision-making are many of the social missions 
that are designed to help reduce poverty in the 
most marginalized areas of the country. Health 
clinics, educational centers, subsidized food 
markets and other initiatives rely on local 
volunteers and are accountable to these communities.

CONCLUSION

The Human Rights Watch report "Venezuela: Rights 
Suffer Under Chávez," provides an incomplete and 
biased account of Venezuela's human rights record during the last decade.

It overstates the issue of political 
discrimination, accusing the Chávez government of 
targeting opponents, when in fact it has pardoned 
supporters of the coup and promoted open 
dialogue. The report is also wrong on the 
separation of powers and the media. The branches 
of government provide strong checks and balances, 
and institutions have improved since Chávez was 
first elected. No censorship of the media occurs, 
and the opposition still dominates the airwaves. 
In terms of civil society, labor organizations 
and community groups enjoy more support from this 
administration than ever before.

Venezuela has a strong record on human rights. 
Many of the important guarantees set out in the 
1999 Constitution have indeed been enforced, 
particularly those relating to the fundamental 
needs of citizens, such as food, shelter, 
healthcare, access to education, employment, 
social security, and the right to participation in cultural life.

Human Rights Watch details none of the impressive 
progress made in these areas. For example, the UN 
Development Programme has found that Venezuela 
has already achieved some of the Millennium 
Development Goals, and is on track to complete 
the others by 2015. Notably, the country has seen 
a 54% drop in the number of households living in 
extreme poverty since 1998, and its overall 
poverty has fallen by 34%.[iv] Facts such as 
these provide a much more complete picture of the 
human rights situation in Venezuela.

----------
[i] "Chávez pardons accused coup backers" Ian 
James, Associated Press, December 31, 2007.

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2007-12-31-1482318110_x.htm>http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2007-12-31-1482318110_x.htm 

[ii] Human Rights Watch, "Rigging the Rule of 
Law: Judicial Independence Under Siege in 
Venezuela," June 2004, 
<http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/venezuela0604/>http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/venezuela0604/ 

[iii] World Bank, Project Information Document, 
Report AB510, December 9, 2003, 
<http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDS_IBank_Servlet?pcont=details&eid=000104615_20040226144554>http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDS_IBank_Servlet?pcont=details&eid=000104615_20040226144554 

[iv] Instituto Nacional de Estadística 
<http://www.ine.gob.ve/pobreza/LIgrafico2sem.asp>http://www.ine.gob.ve/pobreza/LIgrafico2sem.asp 

The <http://www.veninfo.org/>Venezuela 
Information Office is dedicated to informing the 
American public about contemporary Venezuela, and 
receives its funding from the government of 
Venezuela.  Further information is available from 
the FARA office of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

<http://hrw.org/reports/2008/venezuela0908/>The 
full Human Rights Watch report on Venezuela can befound here.

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