The United Nations office for human rights released a report Friday severely condemning serious human rights abuses and an absence of the rule of law in Venezuela and said there was a strong case to bring the country before the International Criminal Court. While the previous report focused on the excessive use of force and alleged extrajudicial killings in the context of demonstrations, this new report also documents credible, shocking accounts of extrajudicial killings in the course of purported crime-fighting operations carried out since 2015, known as the Operations for the Liberation of the People (OLPs). Read: https://t.co/omAzVKLfg8 pic.twitter.com/hkHJfRd2We — UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) June 22, 2018

Critics say Maduro has used increasingly authoritarian tactics as the OPEC nation's economy has spiralled deeper into recession and hyperinflation, increasing discontent and prompting hundreds of thousands to emigrate in the past year. The scathing analysis from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights accused the authorities in the restive South American nation of failing to bring perpetrators responsible for human rights violations, such as the use of excessive force and the extrajudicial killing of protesters, to justice. The impunity must end.”

As the Venezuelan Government has not granted the UN Human Rights Office access to the country despite repeated requests, and given the scale and scope of violations, High Commissioner Zeid has recommended that the UN Human Rights Council establish a Commission of Inquiry into the situation in Venezuela. “A number of elements seem to indicate they were an instrument for the Government to showcase alleged results in crime reduction.”

Under the previous Attorney-General, who was replaced in August 2017, 357 security officers were reportedly under investigation in relation to the killings.
A report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accuses the Venezuelan government of allowing its security forces to participate in hundreds of extrajudicial killings over the past year.