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repeatedly denied urgent medical care and 

had reported other ill-treatment since his 

detention in January 2016.

6

INTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY

In May, Venezuela announced that it was 

withdrawing from the Organization of 

American States and therefore from the 

authority of the IACHR, further limiting the 

protection for victims of human rights 

violations in Venezuela.

Decisions and rulings from international 

human rights monitoring mechanisms were 

still not implemented at the end of the year, 

especially regarding the investigation and 

punishment of those responsible for human 

rights violations.

In November, Venezuela received a visit 

from the UN Independent Expert on the 

promotion of a democratic and equitable 

international order. Visits from the UN Special 

Rapporteur on the right to development, and 

the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative 

impact of unilateral coercive measures on the 

enjoyment of human rights, were announced 

for 2018.

ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES

Former Minister of Defence and detained 

government critic Raúl Isaías Baduel was 

unexpectedly taken from his cell at the 

National Centre for Military Proceedings in 

Ramo Verde, Caracas, on the morning of 8  

August; he remained disappeared for 23 

days. The authorities then acknowledged that 

he was being held at the facilities of the 

Bolivarian National Intelligence Service in 

Caracas, where he was held incommunicado 

and denied access to his family and lawyers 

for more than a month.

7

IMPUNITY

Most victims of human rights violations 

continued to lack access to truth, justice and 

reparation. Victims and their families were 

often subjected to intimidation.

In April, two officers of the Bolivarian 

National Guard were sentenced for killing 

Geraldine Moreno during demonstrations in 

Carabobo state in 2014. The majority of 

victims of murder, torture and other violations 

by state actors were yet to receive justice or 

reparation.

The Attorney General’s Office announced 

investigations into killings in the context of 

protests between April and July 2017. The 

National Constituent Assembly, established 

on 30 July, appointed a Truth Commission to 

investigate cases of human rights violations 

during the protests; there were concerns 

about its independence and impartiality. 

There were reports of victims or their families 

being pressured by authorities to testify and 

agree on facts that could waive the 

responsibility of state agents for these 

violations, as well as obstacles to the work of 

defence lawyers working with human rights 

organizations.

DETENTION

Despite reforms to the penitentiary system in 

2011, prison conditions remained extremely 

harsh. Lack of medical care, food and 

drinking water, insanitary conditions, 

overcrowding and violence in prisons and 

other detention centres continued. During 

clashes inside penitentiary centres, the use of 

firearms remained commonplace among 

inmates. Many detainees resorted to hunger 

strikes to protest against the conditions of 

their detention.

The IACHR expressed concern over the 

deaths of 37 detainees at the Amazon 

Judicial Detention Centre in August during 

clashes that took place when the Bolivarian 

National Guard and the Bolivarian National 

Police reportedly attempted to search the 

premises.

RIGHT TO FOOD

The Documentation and Analysis Centre for 

Workers reported that in December the 

basket of consumer goods for a family of five, 

which is used to define the consumer price 

index, was 60 times the minimum wage, 

representing a 2123% increase since 

November 2016. The humanitarian 

organization Caritas Venezuela found that 

27.6% of children studied were at risk of 

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malnutrition and 15.7% of them suffered 

mild to acute malnutrition.

The government failed to acknowledge the 

worsening food shortage caused by the 

economic and social crises. In its Global 

Report on Food Crises 2017, the UN Food 

and Agriculture Organization stated that it 

lacked reliable official data on Venezuela and 

that the deepening of the critical economic 

situation could lead to a greater absence of 

consumer goods such as food and medical 

supplies.

RIGHT TO HEALTH

After almost two years of publishing no 

official data, in May the Ministry of Health 

published the weekly epidemiological 

bulletins from 2016. The data revealed that 

during 2016, there were 11,466 reported 

deaths of children under the age of one, an 

increase of 30.1% from 2015, when this 

figure stood at 8,812. The most common 

causes of infant mortality were neonatal 

sepsis, pneumonia and premature birth. In 

addition, the bulletins showed that 324 cases 

of diphtheria were reported in 2016.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

The Ministry of Health bulletins indicated an 

increase in instances of maternal mortality of 

65.8% from 2015 to 2016, with a total of 756 

deaths recorded in 2016, 300 more than in 

2015.

Lack of official data made it almost 

impossible to monitor the rate of femicides 

and other crimes against women. However, 

the NGO Women’s Metropolitan Institute 

estimated that there were at least 48 

femicides between January and May.

Ten years after the implementation of the 

Organic Law on Women’s Right to Live a Life 

Free of Violence, local NGOs reported that 

prosecutors, judges, police officers and other 

officials remained poorly equipped to protect 

women’s rights, and women often suffered 

re-victimization because of institutional 

violence. Other obstacles to implementing the 

law included a lack of official data to plan 

and programme public policies to prevent 

and eradicate violence against women.

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

The economic crisis continued to limit access 

to contraception. In June, in an online survey 

carried out by the local NGO AVESA, 72% of 

respondents had not been able to access any 

contraceptives during the previous 12 

months, and 27% said that they could not 

afford to buy contraceptives from 

pharmacies.

REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS

There was a notable increase in the number 

of Venezuelans seeking asylum in Brazil, 

Costa Rica, the USA, Spain, Peru, and 

Trinidad and Tobago. Other countries in the 

region, including Colombia and Ecuador, also 

continued to receive large numbers of 

Venezuelans seeking refuge.

1. Silenced by force: Politically motivated arbitrary detentions in 

Venezuela (

AMR 53/6014/2017

)

2. Venezuela: Trans man and daughter threatened by police (

AMR 

53/5651/2017

)

3. Venezuela: Human rights defender harassed − Ehisler Vásquez (

AMR 

53/6252/2017

)

4. Venezuela: Defenders’ home invaded, safety at risk (

AMR 

53/6324/2017

)

5. Venezuela: Arbitrary detainees on hunger strike (

AMR 53/6758/2017

)

6. Venezuela: Prisoner of conscience needs medical care: Villca 

Fernández (

AMR 53/7464/2017

)

7. Venezuela: Detainee held incommunicado again: Raúl Isaías Baduel 

(

AMR 53/7051/2017

)

VIET NAM

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Head of state: Tr

ần Đại Quang

Head of government: Nguy

ễn Xuân Phúc

Arbitrary restrictions on the rights to 

freedom of expression, association and 

peaceful assembly continued. A crackdown 

on dissent intensified, causing scores of 

activists to flee the country. Human rights 

defenders, peaceful political activists and 

religious followers were subjected to a range 

of human rights violations, including 

arbitrary detention, prosecution on national 

security and other vaguely worded charges 

---