On January 25, 2022, Venezuela will participate for the third time in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), where member states of the United Nations (UN) will be able to evaluate the compliance and commitment of the Venezuelan State with human rights, specifically the progress, challenges and problems that have arisen or persisted since the last examination in 2016.

The UPR was created by the United Nations General Assembly to evaluate the situation of human rights in the 193 States members of the organization under their international obligations. Like other human rights reviews, the UPR is conducted every 4 or 5 years under the figure of ‘cycles’ that began in 2011 and continued in 2016 in the case of Venezuela. The country will now participate in the third cycle of review.

The examination has the unique characteristic of being conducted by the member States themselves, which are mutually and exhaustively examined with special attention to the universality of human rights under any circumstance and regardless of the political, economic, and cultural systems of each country while addressing the causes of human rights violations. The situation of civil and political rights, economic, social, and cultural rights, and the rights of all groups and specific populations that suffer discrimination, violence, and abuse are some of the areas in review.

The UPR also examines the State’s cooperation with civil society, the protection of civic space and human rights defenders, journalists, humanitarian workers, and social activists, as well as the State’s willingness to comply with the implementation of the recommendations of previous cycles and the recommendations of human rights protection bodies, both in the universal system and the inter-American system.

The objective of the review is to strengthen the States’ commitment to guaranteeing the enjoyment of human rights by the population, and the procedure also allows the international community to honor its obligation to promote the protection of human rights through cooperation. The examination recognizes the participation of national and international civil society organizations through the reception of reports that guarantee the availability of first-hand and rigorous information on the situation of human rights in the State under review, the causes and patterns of violations, patterns, the consequences for the people, and the evolution of the overall situation.

The Universal Periodic Review constitutes a great opportunity to visibilize before the international community the violations of human rights that are often ignored, denied, and silenced by the Venezuelan State and the challenges that remain in this matter. It is also the occasion to ensure the support of the international community so that Venezuelans can have access to assistance and cooperation mechanisms that make possible a change in the situation of human rights in the country.

Translated by José Rafael Medina