RES/39/1 Promotion and protection of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela



Human Rights Council Thirty-ninth session

10–28 September 2018

Agenda item 2

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 27 September 2018

39/1. Promotion and protection of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic

of Venezuela

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other relevant international

human rights instruments,

Reaffirming the primary responsibility of States to promote and protect the human

rights and fundamental freedoms of their citizens and to fulfil their obligations under the

human rights treaties and agreements to which they are parties,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006 and Human Rights

Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007,

Recalling in particular that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human

Rights has the mandate to, inter alia, play an active role in removing the current obstacles

and in meeting the challenges to the full realization of all human rights and in preventing

the continuation of human rights violations throughout the world,

Bearing in mind that hundreds of thousands of nationals of the Bolivarian Republic

of Venezuela, including men, women and children, are forced to leave their country as a

result of, inter alia, a political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis that seriously

affects their human rights,

1. Welcomes the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights entitled “Human rights violations in the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela: a downward spiral with no end in sight”, published in June 2018;

2. Expresses its deepest concern at the serious human rights violations in a

context of a political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis, as documented in the

above-mentioned report;

3. Calls upon the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to

accept humanitarian assistance in order to address the scarcity of food, medicine and

medical supplies, the rise of malnutrition, especially among children, and the outbreak of

diseases that had been previously eradicated or kept under control in South America;

4. Urges the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to cooperate

with the Office of the High Commissioner and the mechanisms of the Human Rights

Council;

5. Requests the High Commissioner to prepare a comprehensive written report

on the human rights situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and to present it to

the Human Rights Council at its forty-first session, to be followed by an enhanced

interactive dialogue, and to present an oral update on the human rights situation to the

Council at its fortieth and forty-second sessions.

39th meeting

27 September 2018

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 23 to 7, with 17 abstentions. The voting was as follows:

In favour:

Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Ecuador, Georgia,

Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Republic of

Korea, Rwanda, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United

Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Against:

Burundi, China, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Pakistan,

Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Abstaining:

Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal,

Nigeria, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Togo,

Tunisia, United Arab Emirates]