19TH SESSION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF STATES PARTIES
11 December 2020
Name of the Side Event: Paths to Justice and Accountability for Venezuela, Ongoing Initiatives by the International Community (co-hosted by Defiende Venezuela and Un Mundo Sin Mordaza)
Report by: Diana Sposito, Research Associate PILPG-NL
Highlights:
Venezuela is in the process of pursuing justice for victims of serious human rights violations committed in the state. The engagement of the international community, more specifically the International Criminal Court, is key to this process. Secretary-General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, left an important message that, at this very exact moment, there are serious human rights abuses being committed in Venezuela and that justice for victims becomes more and more important each day.
Speakers:
Paolina Massidda (Principal Counsel at the Office of Public Counsel for Victims ICC)
Rodrigo Diamanti (Moderator, Director of the NGO Un Mundo Sin Mordaza)
Luis Almagro (Secretary-General of the Organization of American States - OAS)
Carlos Briceno (Legal Coordinator of the NGO Defiende Venezuela)
Rod Rastan (Legal Advisor in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court)
Omar Pinango (Laywer and Member of the NGO Defiende Venezuela)
Summary of the Event:
The first speaker, Luis Almagro, Secretary-General of the Organization of American States - OAS, provided an overview of the human rights situation in Venezuela. He highlighted the importance of justice in society, mainly focusing on Venezuela. According to him, Venezuela faces a sort of dictatorship, which is different from all other states because of the lack of armed conflict. The Venezuelan government faces accusations of being involved in drug trafficking, corruption, and other serious human rights violations.
The OAS Secretary-General pointed out that there is no justice in the state, and impunity is prevalent. He claimed that the national judiciary is partial, non-independent, and that there is only an impression that it seeks justice when, in reality, it has been covering or diminishing grave abuses. The panelist urged the international community and the ICC to take action to remediate such abuses and hopes that Venezuelans will find justice someday.
The second speaker, Rod Rastan, Legal Advisor in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, explained how the ICC’s Preliminary Examination (PE) proceedings work and updated the participants on the current status of the PE in Venezuela. He first explained that there are two PEs usually opened - one that determines whether it will open an investigation, and another that determines which crimes were committed. This process has no fixed period and depends on the situation.
The current PE on Venezuela is analyzing which alleged crimes have been identified during the examination and, next Monday, December 14, 2020, the OTP will issue a determination on its merits. Mr. Rastan manifested that the OTP is willing to bring all ongoing PEs to some kind of decision. This would include either to close the PE, due to lack of evidence, or proceed with them if there is a reasonable basis. In case neither of these scenarios are possible, the OTP will probably issue a detailed determination on the status of the PE and its possible outcomes.
The next panelists answered questions from the audience. Carlos Briceno, Legal Coordinator of the NGO Defiende Venezuela, answered a question about the identified patterns of crimes in Venezuela. According to him, there is a massive number of violations documented since 2014, which, at the time, did not have the status of crimes against humanity. Nowadays, several reports from different national and international organizations and NGOs provide evidence that the human rights abuses in Venezuela amount to crimes against humanity.
Despite the complexity of different crimes and patterns of violations, he said that the main crimes identified were indiscriminate use of force by the police, especially during protests, and human rights abuses against these protesters in detention. Mr. Briceno argued that armed police officials and national authorities within the government administration heavily target political and military dissidents and people affiliated with them, such as their family. He also highlighted the impunity in the state.
The Lawyer and Member of the Defiende Venezuela, Omar Pinango, answered questions on the crimes committed in Venezuela. According to him, there are at least four different crimes: sexual violence committed by state officials, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and persecution against political dissidents, which include torture.
Following the discussion, participants asked Paolina Massidda, Principal Counsel at the Office of Public Counsel for Victims of the ICC, to explain how the ICC’s Office of Public Counsel for Victims works and how it could contribute to Venezuelans. According to her, the office is inclusive in the ICC mechanism but also independent. Its lawyers have the sole task of representing victims. There are different ways to represent victims - either by representing them directly in the proceedings before the Court or by providing assistance and support to external lawyers, who already represent the victims. Thirdly, the office’s lawyers can appeal before the Chambers issues that may affect the victims, if they find that there is a general interest to them.
Paolina’s speech emphasized the role that the victims play during PEs and that the Venezuelan victims have already significantly contributed to providing information to the OTP. The PE is an important step for seeking justice, and the OTP has received a huge amount of information about the crimes committed in Venezuela. If the OTP opens an investigation, victims will continue to play an important role in informing about the violations and becoming potential witnesses. There is an alternative if it does not open. The five other states who referred the situation in Venezuela to the ICC can request the Prosecutor to review its decision.
The audience posed several other questions to the panelists, which focused on exploring the topic of PEs, victim participation, and the role of civil society during this period, who is key in documenting human rights violations and providing information to official investigations.
The event finished with a speech from Génesis Davila, founder of the NGO Defiende Venezuela, who provided a summary of the discussion. She reminded the audience that there are three phases of the PE on the situation in Venezuela. Phase One found that the ICC has jurisdiction over possible crimes committed. Phase 2 found that there are sufficient grounds to believe that serious crimes have been committed in the state since 2014. And Phase Three will determine whether there is a genuine investigation ongoing under national proceedings, or, if not, whether there is the willingness of the state to open one. She thanked the panelists for the insightful discussion and the space that was created to debate such relevant issues. Finally, she urged that victims in Venezuela find remediation and that there is appropriate accountability for the perpetrators of crimes.