Human and social rights are not commodities

The sectoral vice president of Planning, Ricardo Menéndez, denounced that Unilateral Coercive Measures interfere with the right of countries to develop economic and social models that allow the fulfillment of their goals.

“Unilateral Coercive Measures aim to restrict the right to development. For example, how is such a right possible if we silently allow a country to stop receiving 55 billion dollars annually and go on to receive 700 million dollars the following year as a consequence of these measures,” Menéndez inquired during his participation in the V Meeting of Regional Conference on Population and Development of Latin America and the Caribbean held in Bogotá, Colombia, and organized by the ECLAC.

He emphasized that this constitutes an attempt to confiscate the fundamental human right to development that each nation has.

On the other hand, he invited a synergy between the social and the economic in order to advance in achieving the objectives set.

“The issue of human and social rights are not merchandise, nor are they gifts that are given to social groups. They are rights of the population that cannot be subject to any dynamics,” she urged.

Montevideo Consensus and Agenda 2030

Menéndez affirmed that the Montevideo Consensus and the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are not separate agendas, but are part of Venezuela’s development plan.

He highlighted that President Nicolás Maduro called to configure the national development plan towards 2030, for which 60 thousand popular assemblies were convened with the participation of more than 3 million people who defined the future development plan of the country.

“This development plan has intrinsically the Montevideo Consensus and the SDGs as a great direction for development,” stressed the Vice President of Planning.

He explained that the aforementioned plan included the priorities of Afro-descendant peoples, youth, people with disabilities, women and indigenous peoples.

“They are not actors placed as collateral, as if they were decorations for discursive moments, they are leading actors of the human rights of all our people,” he highlighted.

Statistical systems

He added that statistical systems must be adapted to be able to see the difficulties of the problems. “The community, where the citizen lives, is very important; it is the fundamental statistical unit of our country to accompany the decision-making processes,” he stressed.