Human Rights: Latest weapon against Venezuela
ON the occasion of the 36th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, 116 “NGOs” (1) signed a letter demanding that Venezuela be a priority for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The effort was spearheaded by none other than Human Rights Watch (HRW).
HRW has a long and documented history of bias and outright lies in their reports on Venezuela, which is no surprise given their blatant revolving door with the US government.
Among the signatories are several usual suspects such as Provea or Foro Penal, whose president Alfredo Romero was a recent speaker in a “US Democracy Support” forum.
Another organisation on the list is Transparencia Venezuela, which includes as sources of funding the EU, several embassies and the parent organisation Transparency International.
And although Transparency International is much shadier than it sounds, at least we can laud their transparency in listing their backers.
The list includes the US State Department, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), George Soros’ Open Society, even corporations such as Shell.
One more that stands out, and is quoted regularly by the media, is the International Commission of Jurists, which sounds very noble and independent until you discover that they were initially funded by the CIA.
The issue here is with the term “non-governmental organisation”, which are always presented by the media as faultless, impartial actors.
While there are many scenarios in which independent organisations can step in and provide invaluable services, this is hardly the case of groups funded by the NED (or USAID, or similar agencies) to “promote democracy” or “defend human rights” in countries like Venezuela.
These are merely extensions of the US and western foreign policy apparatus, working as the local infrastructure that is necessary in regime change operations as well as a source for the media to build its biased narrative.
At the end of the day, it is the term “non-governmental organisation” that falls very short of describing the nature and activities of these groups.
If an organisation in Venezuela, or anywhere else, is funded by the US government, in what world is it a “non-governmental organisation”?
One cannot prove that all the “NGOs” standing with HRW are Western-funded, but advancing Western interests is very much advancing corporate interests, and it is doubtful that anyone would do that for free.
Weaponising human rights While one should not judge a book by the cover, it might be useful to consider the background of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad al Hussein.
A member of the royal family of Jordan, he comes from a Hashemite dynasty whose calling card has been its pliancy to imperial interests in the Middle East.
And having served as ambassador to the US and permanent representative to the UN, he is, much like Jordan, someone the US can rely upon.
His most recent statement, which could just as well have been written by the US State Department, was delivered during the 36th Session of the Human Rights Council.
It takes aim at every inconvenient country, from Iran to North Korea, while important US allies like Bahrain or Egypt are invited to “engage more productively” with his office.
Israel is treated with kid gloves, and somehow the blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is supposed to be shared between Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
And there is no mention whatsoever of Saudi Arabia, where surely there are no human rights issues . . . Even when addressing the catastrophe in Yemen there is only a passing mention to “coalition air-strikes”.
And then the High Commissioner gets to Venezuela, sounding like any opposition leader or US official on “human rights violations” during anti-government protests or the “crushing [of] democratic institutions”, and suggesting an investigation into possible “crimes against humanity”.
Never mind Colombia, where for years the army killed thousands of civilians and dressed them as rebels to collect rewards.
Never mind Saudi Arabia, conducting double tap strikes (2) against funerals in Yemen, or the US “torturing some folks” , or Israeli soldiers killing children because they were “running like terrorists”.
The High Commissioner is worried that crimes against humanity have been committed in Venezuela!
This statement comes on the heels of an OHCHR report about Venezuela that Joe Emersberger described as “embarrassingly shoddy and biased”.
It barely mentions any violence coming from the opposition ranks, and while offering a tally of deaths allegedly caused by government forces and the bogeyman colectivos, there is no detailed breakdown to be compared with other accounts such as the one by Venezuelanalysis.
Remarkably, given the importance of the issue and the damning verdict that the OHCHR wishes to pass, no investigators from the UN body set foot in Venezuela. Instead the report relies on carefully selected testimonies and the “NGOs” we just discussed.
True NGOs strike back While the amenable High Commissioner and the poorly-named “NGOs” put on their show to further the regimechange operation in Venezuela, others were not about to take it sitting down.
True NGOs, independent organisations that are not pawns in imperialist machinations, and which are truly committed to human rights, condemned foreign meddling in Venezuela and the politicisation of human rights. One example was Swiss-based CETIM, an organisation focused on supporting social movements in the Global South.
Full article on www.herald.co.zw