Almost 60 attacks on human rights defenders were recorded in Venezuela in July

• Of the total number of cases, 26 were stigmatization, 20 were intimidation and harassment, five were digital attacks, four were threats and one was an “arbitrary” arrest | Photo: EFE

In Venezuela, 56 attacks and security incidents against human rights organizations and defenders were recorded in July, 38 more than in June, when 18 cases were documented, the NGO Center for Human Rights Defenders and Justice (CDJ) reported on Wednesday, August 28.

“The policy of criminalization, repression and social control advanced in the pre-election context, and human rights organizations and defenders faced serious risks,” the organization noted in its most recent report.

Of the total number of cases, 26 were stigmatization, 20 were intimidation and harassment, five were digital attacks, four were threats and one was an “arbitrary” detention.

Photo: EFE

The organization said that last month there was a constant use of communication platforms to “intimidate and stigmatize” people and organizations, “with the aim of distorting their activities under the logic of the internal enemy and trying to link their activities to destabilizing or partisan political events.”

80% of cases against NGOs

He said that 80% of the registered cases were carried out against non-governmental organizations, while the remaining 20% ​​were directed at individuals.

The main perpetrators, he continued, were public officials (37%), followed by state media (25%), public institutions (23%), other actors close to the government (14%), and security agencies (4%).

“The 56 events documented during July 2024 are of great concern, as they arise in a context of a general increase in violence and state repression,” the CDJ added.

On August 15, the National Assembly (AN, Parliament) of Venezuela, controlled by Chavismo, unanimously approved, the Law on Supervision, Regulation, Action and Financing of NGOs and Social Organizations which provides for the judicial dissolution of these groups that violate the provisions established in the regulations.

Photo: National Assembly

According to the new law, NGOs are prohibited from receiving financial contributions for political organisations or making contributions to such organisations, as well as from promoting “fascism, intolerance or hatred”.

It also establishes as grounds for dissolution of these associations the failure to comply with the prohibitions, declared by judicial decision, as well as the failure to pay any fine imposed “in accordance with this law, once the available judicial resources have been exhausted.”

With information from EFE

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