The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela presented on Thursday before the plenary of countries represented in the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN), held in Geneva, Switzerland, the advances obtained in ensuring access to justice, right to defense and defense in general human rights of the Venezuelan people.
The exhibition was conducted by the director of the Public Defender’s office, Mariana Oliveros, who was accompanied by Ambassador Jorge Valero, Venezuela’s permanent representative to the UN – Geneva.
In that sense, Oliveros said that in Venezuela have been “generated the most favorable conditions to ensure the full and effective enjoyment of the human right to participation, organized, direct and proactive way, with personalized attention for all and citizens requiring the service, free of charge. ”
In this way have been treated, between 2013 and 2016, more than 2 million users in different areas of competence of the Public Defender. There are included older adults, adolescents, Afro-descendants, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, foreigners, among others.
For this purpose, -he added-, the institution has specialized officers throughout the entire national territory, who provide their services in Ordinary Criminal Penal Municipal, Special Crimes of Violence against Women, Adolescent Criminal Responsibility, Special Police, Criminal Enforcement Officials Sentencing, Indian, Agriculture and Fisheries, Civil and Administrative Special Tenants, Integral Protection of Children and Adolescents, Labor, Administrative, Criminal Military, Public Defenders to act before the Chambers of the Supreme Court, as emphasizes a press bulletin.
In this regard, was explained that in regard to the Penal competence, since 2015 and the first half of 2016, the Public Defender assumed the representation of 22,709 users but were disqualified on criminal proceedings in its different phases, after the revocation of their private lawyers, reflecting the great trust placed in our institution by the prison community, adds the note.
Likewise, said that the Venezuelan Public Defender has managed to evolve and develop options direct contact with the population, to provide a primary, optimal and quality attention, to all the people who come to the institution.
“To optimize the service to the Venezuelans we opened in 2015 the Office of Attention to the Citizen, to this date we have served more than 21,000 people (…) Similarly, we provide a program of conferences, from 2013 to 2016 more 188,400 days of street aimed at organized groups with a direct care in their homes, “said the Director of the Office of the General Public Defender, cited in the press release.
She mentioned that this reality contrasts with the Venezuelan people who lived before the adoption of the Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela, in 1999, as it was with this text, -stressed- that human rights and its guarantee were brought into live letter.
“Undoubtedly, we can say that although the 1961 Constitution advocated the protection of the right to life, liberty, justice, human dignity, among others, this was nothing more than a simple constitutional articulate without any application (… ) collective memory evokes multiple massacres and human rights violations because of political dissent, whose involved had no right to a prior trial or the right to defense and were extrajudicially executed or tortured and disappeared; among some serious human rights violations can we mention the various massacres: Yumare, Cantaura, El Amparo and El Caracazo ” she specified.
It was with the Constitution of 1999 -referred- that was broken the constitutional paradigm “passive and of omission, and is contemplated for the first time, the blanket prohibition to practice, permit or tolerate the forced disappearance of persons”.
The Constitution establishes the principle of progressiveness of human rights, “In which as an evolutionary result, stipulates that once built a human right, it cannot be ignored or undermined. Ruling, also for the first time, the State’s obligation to investigate and punish serious human rights violations, so its applicability was established, with which is demonstrated the will of the People’s constituent power to prevent the occurrence of such violations and, in such case, the officials should respond civil, criminal and administratively”, she added.
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