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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"><font
size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15123">https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15123</a></font><br>
<h1 class="reader-title">UN Special Rapporteur Blasts
‘Devastating’ and ‘Illegal’ US and EU Sanctions against
Venezuela</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Paul Dobson - February
15, 2021<br>
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<p>Mérida, February 15, 2021 (<a
href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/">venezuelanalysis.com</a>)
– The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative
impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment
of human rights has visited Venezuela and blasted
Washington’s sanctions regime.</p>
<p>Alena Douhan, who was in Venezuela from February 1-12,
published her<a
href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26747&LangID=E">
preliminary findings</a> on Friday after meeting a
“wide range of interlocutors,” including from state
institutions, a vast variety of political parties,
independent grassroots movements, trade unions, business
lobbies, the Church and NGOs. She will present her full
report at the 48th UN Human Rights Council session
scheduled for September.</p>
<p>In the preliminary findings, the Belarusian lawyer
concluded that Washington’s 2015<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13697"> state
of national emergency</a> and the US’, EU’s and
allies’ subsequent<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14679">
sanctions</a> regime “violates international law” and
“the principle of sovereign equality of states,” while
also constituting “an intervention in the domestic
affairs of Venezuela.”</p>
<p>Douhan especially highlighted the “devastating” impact
of the blockade on “all of Venezuela’s population” as
well as on human rights, the economy and social
coverage, directly linking it to the recent<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14966">
migration</a> levels, increased poverty and
deteriorated living conditions.</p>
<p>The human rights lawyer concluded the report by
“urging” that sanctions be “revised and lifted.”</p>
<h3>Frozen assets abroad</h3>
<p>In the findings, the independent UN expert criticised
moves to<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15014"> freeze
Venezuelan assets abroad</a>, calling on the UK,
Portuguese and US governments and their “corresponding
banks” to liberate them and enable Caracas to attend to
the “needs of its population.”</p>
<p>Douhan made special reference to the<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15094">
Covid-19 emergency</a> and the obstacles faced to
secure tests, medicines and vaccines.</p>
<h3>Human rights</h3>
<p>The UN lawyer also stated that the sanctions violate a
great number of human rights, including the right to
work, to social security, to an adequate standard of
living, to fair trial and freedom of movement.</p>
<p>“The Special Rapporteur is concerned that unilateral
targeted sanctions in their existing form violate at the
very least obligations emerging from universal and
regional instruments in the sphere of human rights, many
of which are of a peremptory character,” her report
states.</p>
<h3>Healthcare</h3>
<p>The expert from the UN’s Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) went on to mention
a number of cases in which the measures have
detrimentally affected healthcare.</p>
<p>“The unavailability of resources, including the frozen
assets, for buying vaccines and supporting family
planning programs has resulted in outbreaks of malaria,
measles and yellow fever and opportunistic infections,”
she explained.</p>
<p>She particularly pointed to increasing teenage
pregnancy rates and HIV/AIDS infections due to
contraception shortages, and “the diversion of assets of
PDVSA’s [seized] <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14268">US
subsidiary, CITGO</a>, [which] has prevented
transplants of liver and bone marrow to 53 Venezuelan
children.”</p>
<div id="file-13850--6">UN Special Rapporteur on the
negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the
enjoyment of human rights Alena Douhan meets National
Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez in Caracas.
(@jorgerpsuv / Twitter)
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<h3>Education</h3>
<p>The UN Rapporteur additionally stressed a drop in
educational standards and coverage caused by “the
unavailability of financial resources and reluctance of
foreign companies to trade with Venezuela” since 2015,
referring to an “absence or insufficiency of school
supplies, school uniforms and food at school, which used
to be provided by the government”</p>
<p>Similarly, she highlighted the suspension of the
government-run<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/7647"> Canaima
computer program</a> for the same causes, as well as
“transportation problems, the absence of electricity,
and reduced Internet and mobile phone coverage [which]
endanger the right to education.”</p>
<h3>Fuel shortages</h3>
<p>The UN official went on to criticise<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14894">
tightening sanctions</a> against the oil sector, and
fuel and diesel production and purchases in particular.</p>
<p>“The Special Rapporteur is concerned that the<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/video/15061"> lack
of gasoline</a>, with the resulting rise in
transportation prices, violates the freedom of movement,
impedes access to hospitals, schools and other public
services, exacerbates the challenges in delivering and
distributing food and medical supplies – especially in
remote areas of the country,” Douhan’s findings read.</p>
<p>“The reported<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15040"> lack
of diesel fuel</a>,” she continued, “has a potential
dramatic effect on the production and storage of food,
with the risk of further exacerbating the food
insecurity of the Venezuelan people [...], increasing
therefore health risks and threats to life.”</p>
<h3>Economy</h3>
<p>While noting a range of economic initiatives introduced
by Caracas in recent years, including the opening up of
the economy to the<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15029">
private sector</a>, the rapporteur noted that <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14434">wide
reaching sanctions</a> “have exacerbated the
pre-existing economic and humanitarian situation.”</p>
<p>She specifically explained how the blockade “prevents
the earning of revenues and the use of resources to
develop and maintain infrastructure and for social
support programs, which has a devastating effect on the
whole population of Venezuela, especially those in
extreme poverty, women, children, medical workers,
people with disabilities or life-threatening or chronic
diseases, and the indigenous population.”</p>
<p>She equally made special reference to the state's
inability to pay public sector wages or maintain
deteriorated public services, such as electricity,
water, roadways and telecommunications.</p>
<h3>Secondary sanctions</h3>
<p>The rapporteur was also vehement in criticising
international threats, pressure, and<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15007">
secondary sanctions</a> against third parties trading
with Caracas.</p>
<p>According to Douhan, “secondary sanctions [are] not
justified under international law, preventing the
government of Venezuela, its public sector and private
companies from purchasing machinery, spare parts,
medicine, food, agricultural supplies and other
essential goods even within the licenses issued by the
US government.”</p>
<p>In the financial field, she reported that Caracas
suffers from “a growing number of bank transfer
refusals, the extension of bank transfer periods (from 2
to 45 days), higher delivery, insurance and bank
transfer costs, as well as reported price rises for all
(especially imported) goods.” The Belarusian lawyer
additionally mentioned related problems for Venezuelan
migrants sending remittances home.</p>
<p>Finally, the UN official took note of a number of
non-sanction related problems which contribute to the
current crisis, including improper use of humanitarian
aid funds, economic mismanagement and corruption.</p>
<p>“It is impossible to see to what extent or real
percentage [this crisis] has been affected by the
sanctions, but I can say that there is evidence that
they have had an enormous impact on access to the right
to life, to education, to food medicine, and in every
other ambit of life,” she summarised upon presenting the
report.</p>
<p>Douhan is the second UN human rights expert to visit
the country in recent years. Fellow rapporteur Alfred de
Zayas has likewise been very <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15103">critical
</a>of sanctions against Venezuela and argued they
constitute a crime against humanity. UN High Commission
for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14554">visited</a>
in 2020 and has since added her voice to <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14823">calls</a>
for sanctions relief.</p>
<p>The Venezuelan government welcomed Douhan’s preliminary
findings. In contrast, the opposition criticised the UN
report, claiming that it was mere “regime propaganda”
full of “imprecisions.”</p>
<p>Sanctions against Venezuela began in 2015, but were
significantly increased in 2017 and again in 2019, when
the US applied first an <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14268">oil ban</a>
and later a <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14615">fully-fledged
embargo</a> on all dealings with Caracas. Most
recently, sectors including <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14659">food
import programs</a>, <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14784">airlines
</a>and <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14894">oil-for-food
swap deals</a> have been targeted by Washington.</p>
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