The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Wednesday it was opening a formal investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan government has said it accepts the decision but that it does not share the opinion that the investigation should go ahead.
Why is this happening now?
The decision, which comes at the end of preliminary examination, was enshrined in a joint memorandum signed by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Khan had been in Venezuela for a three-day visit to determine whether the proceedings, started in 2018, should move forward to the investigation.
The court, based in the Dutch city of The Hague, will investigate whether crimes against humanity were committed during Venezuela’s clampdown on anti-government protests in 2017.
“The ICC prosecutor has concluded his preliminary examination of the situation in Venezuela and has determined that it is appropriate to open an investigation to establish the truth in accordance with the Rome Statute,” a memorandum signed by the Venezuelan government reads.
The Rome Statute, which established the ICC in 1998, outlines the functions and jurisdiction of the court when it comes to where it can take action.
What the Venezuelan president said
While Maduro said he did not agree with Khan’s evaluation, he said Venezuela respected it.
“We respect his decision as a state, though we have made clear we do not share it,” said Maduro. “We have signed an agreement that does guarantee, in an effective way, cooperation, positive complementarity, mutual support, constructive dialogue to seek truth and justice.”
Khan also signed an agreement with Maduro’s government to allow national authorities to advance in their own efforts at establishing accountability, as outlined by the Rome Statute.
Venezuela “considers that the allegations should be investigated in the country by existing national institutions created for this purpose,” the memorandum explains.
The ICC can only investigate and prosecute international crimes in situations where states are “unable” or “unwilling” to do so themselves.
What the ICC prosecutor said
Standing alongside Maduro, Kahn said he was aware of the political “fault lines” and “geopolitical divisions” around Venezuela, but vowed not to tolerate any interference in the investigation.
“I’m fully aware of the flaws that exist in Venezuela, the political division. We (the ICC) are not political, we are guided by the principles of legality and the rule of law,” said Khan.
“I ask everyone, as we enter this new phase, to give my office space to do its work.”
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Empty fridges
Venezuela had its highest inflation rates ever in 2018: 65,374%. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) marked it even higher, at 1,370,000%. A lack of hard currency meant precious few items could be imported. Soaring prices have made it impossible for most Venezuelans to shop at the supermarket.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Feeding the poor
Only those who can provide their own plate or bowl get something to eat here because even aid organizations cannot afford disposable tableware. The once wealthy country has been suffering a massive supply crisis for years and is now short on everything from food and medicine to everyday items like soap and diapers.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Hungry children
Children in Caracas hold out their hands as aid organizations and church groups distribute food. Many haven’t eaten for days. Statistics compiled for a study at the Catholic Andres Bello National University (UNAB) in Chile say 96% of Venezuelan households live in poverty, and 64% in extreme poverty. Few families in the country can afford meat, fish, eggs, fruits or vegetables.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Health care system on the verge of collapse
People needing hospitalization, such as here at San Juan de Dios Hospital in Caracas, have to pay for their own medicine and medical instruments like catheters and syringes. More than one-third of Venezuela’s 66,000 registered doctors have left the country. Overall, the ranks of medical personnel have been in decline, too, pushing the country’s health care system to the verge of collapse.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Building with mud and wood
A child plays in a Bahareque house made of sticks and mud, a building technique dating back to pre-Columbian times and now popular once again due to extreme poverty in the country’s rural regions. Such houses have no plumbing or electricity.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
No electricity
Blackouts regularly paralyze the country — opposition politicians say lack of investment as well as corruption and poor maintenance of power plants are to blame for the dire situation. The crisis has also prompted the government to take drastic measures in hopes of saving energy. Experiments with a two-day work week for government employees have done little to help so far.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Life on the street
When the electricity goes out, the climate can become unbearable — air conditioners are useless. Life moves out onto the streets, like here in Maracaibo. Regional and even national blackouts have become common across Venezuela over the past several years. President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly blamed the outages on acts of infrastructure sabotage committed by the country’s enemies.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Acute lack of water
The water supply in Valencia’s Santa Rosa district has collapsed. Now, people there bathe and wash themselves in puddles on the side of the road. There is no drinking water in the district.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
A river full of sewage
These days the only things flowing into the Guaire River are sewage and toxic chemicals. Electricity and water in Venezuela are precariously interconnected: Lack of electricity and maintenance has led to cracks in dams, thus leading to water loss. That has meant less power for the country’s hydroelectricity plants, leading to yet more blackouts in what has become a vicious circle.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Search for potable water
A resident of the state of Carabobo pushes a canister through the streets of Guacara in hopes of finding drinking water. Some places in Venezuela only have running water for a couple of hours a week. Most families fill up anything they can to have drinking water the next time supplies are shut down.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Contaminated waters
Venezuelans are swimming in oil, but not in a good way. Fishers floating in inner tubes from tires cast their nets into Lake Maracaibo, even though it’s contaminated with oil. The coast has also been affected. Recently, an oil pipeline leak and an accident at a refinery near Puerto Cabello in the northwest caused some 20,000 barrels of crude oil to be pumped into the ocean.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
‘The people need gas’
Cars have been lined up waiting for fuel at a Guacara gas station for more than two weeks. Venezuela has been forced to import its gasoline from Iran because its own system is so decrepit that it can barely even pump oil. Ten years ago, Venezuela was pumping some 2.3 million barrels a day. Now it is pumping less than half of that.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Collapsed energy supply
In Caracas, people wait in the streets with empty propane tanks in hopes of being able to fill them one day. Since electricity and gasoline have become scarce in Venezuela, many residents have turned to natural gas. Demand has in turn made it scarce too.
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Venezuela: A country bled dry
Fading heroes
Portraits of Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Evo Morales and Rafael Correra adorn the side of a building in Caracas, looking over an overflowing dumpster. Many here worshipped the socialist leaders of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Ecuador like saints. But in Venezuela, the socialism of the 21st century has been unable to deliver on its promise of prosperity for all.
Author: Mirjam Gehrke
Initial probe requested by six nations
When the ICC opened the preliminary investigation in 2018, Khan’s predecessor Fatou Bensouda said there was a “reasonable basis” to believe the government had committed crimes against humanity.
The probe was opened at that time after Peru, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Canada took the unprecedented step of asking the tribunal in The Hague to investigate a fellow member country.
The nations called upon the ICC to investigate alleged torture, rape, murder, violations of due process, and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Maduro’s government since February 2014.
Venezuela’s government last month halted talks with the US-backed opposition in protest at one of Maduro’s allies, who had been involved in negotiations, being extradited to Florida.
rc/ (AFP, EFE, AP, Reuters)
ICC to launch formal probe into Venezuela rights violations
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Pinoy Pop News
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